Dáil debates

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Disability Support Services Provision

2:15 pm

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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85. To ask the Minister for Health if he will prioritise funding of disability services in line with the Government's pre-election commitments on disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42900/14]

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Will the Minister of State prioritise funding of disability services in line with the Government’s pre-election commitments on disabilities? Many families are on waiting lists for respite care and day care places. This affects young and middle-aged adults with intellectual disability. Young people with serious physical disabilities who had a five day a week service a couple of years ago have seen their service cut back to three days a week. In line with the Taoiseach’s and the Labour Party’s solemn pre-election promises on providing and supporting disability services will the Minister of State ensure that over the next 12 months she will prioritise funding for front-line services for people with disabilities?

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The programme for Government committed to ensuring that the quality of life of people with disabilities is enhanced and that resources allocated reach the people who need them. We secured a slight increase in the budget for disability services this year but I am not certain that anyone noticed.

Since 2011 and in spite of the prevailing economic conditions, the Government has focussed on protecting front-line health and personal services for people with a disability to the greatest possible extent. In 2014, the HSE has been provided with funding in the order of €1.4 billion to fund the disability services programme. This programme aims to contribute to the realisation of a society where people with disabilities are supported, as far as possible, to participate to their full potential in economic and social life, and have access to a range of quality personal social supports and services to enhance their quality of life. A range of developments and reform proposals, as outlined in the value for money and policy review published in 2012, are being carried out in an environment of effective communications and engagement with all those involved.

The 2014 funding includes an additional €10 million for school-leavers, rehabilitative training graduates, emergency residential placements and €4 million to develop therapy services under the progressing disability services for children and young people aged zero to eighteen programme. In 2015, additional funding will be provided to the HSE to address identified priority needs within disability services. This includes provision for the emerging needs of young people with a disability leaving school and those leaving rehabilitation training who will require a day place. Additional funding will also be allocated to improve services under the progressing disability services programme. Details regarding this funding and its use will be set out in the HSE's 2015 service plan which is currently being finalised.

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. We have to deal with the lack of connection between announcing sums of money and front-line services. There is something going on in that respect. This morning I met the Minister of State at the Central Remedial Clinic in Clontarf and I welcome the fact that she visited the centre. I commend her for making it a low key visit. I also met there the family of a severely disabled young man whose five day a week service has been cut back to three days a week. That is unacceptable.

I welcome any extra funding for people with disabilities.

It is important for that funding to trickle down to front-line services, including residential, day care and respite services. People with disabilities and their families want to see those services delivered on the ground. They do not want to see the money disappearing into the system, which is a problem we have had over the past five or six years. Not only have the families of people with disabilities had to tolerate cuts, they have also had to put up with the mismanagement of many of the resources that were given to their children and young adults.

2:20 pm

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The transformation of disability services in this country is exactly what the Deputy is talking about. The team involved with the value for money report, the policy review and the ongoing service reform are going into individual services to deal with issues such as those raised by the Deputy. We are talking about a service that is directed in many cases by people with disabilities themselves. I think the capacity legislation will have a great deal to do with that. It will ensure there is more consultation. We are going to change the service. The progressing disabilities programme, which relates to those aged 18 and under, will bring the services out of the institutions and settings in which they are normally found. Those services will be brought into the communities in order that everyone will have access to them. I keep saying that if we want to bring people with disabilities into mainstream services, we will have to ensure the service itself is mainstreamed. I do not think the Deputy and I are in disagreement on this issue. We are on the same page.

Photo of Finian McGrathFinian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Will the Minister of State ensure all people with disabilities are guaranteed a quality service as a right? She has accepted that all cuts to front-line services have now ended. Is that correct? I would like to mention another issue. If we were going to be radical and reformist, why did the Taoiseach not appoint a senior Minister to deal with the disability issue? The tens of thousands of families that are directly affected by this issue would welcome a full-time senior Minister with sole responsibility for people with disabilities. While I accept that the Minister of State is doing the work herself, I would like to put this radical idea for reform and change to her.

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I always feel I have to bow to the disappointment that people find in my performance. If a full-time Minister were appointed, I am sure he or she would do a far better job than I do.