Results 3,501-3,520 of 22,424 for speaker:Finian McGrath

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Applications (28 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received in respect of this child on the 18thApril 2018. The application was not allowed as it was considered that the child did not meet the eligibility criteria for the allowance. A letter issued on the 25thJune 2018 outlining the decision in this case. In the case of an application which is refused, the applicant may submit...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I thank you, Chairman, and the members of the committee for the warm welcome. It is great to be here. It is great to get out of Beaumont Hospital and be back in business. I welcome this opportunity to update members of the committee on the important work being undertaken in the Department of Justice and Equality to support the recent ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I agree with the Deputy that there is a lot more to be done. The convention covers a broad range of commitments which require substantive cultural change. Fundamental to that are the concepts of freedom, autonomy, independence and recognising the right of people with disabilities to make decisions for themselves. In this regard, I have received a report on personalised budgets, on which I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: An awful lot can be done and I can do a lot as Minister. I have been working under the radar with small businesses up and down the country in this area. There are fantastic examples of good practice in small business and in the private sector. I visited a project in Galway a year and a half ago where 101 people with some form of disability were employed by nine or ten small businesses. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: The Government decided in January to approve the priority drafting of the stand-alone Bill on the deprivation of liberty, decoupling its provisions from the Disability Bill. The equality division is working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, to progress the remaining Committee Stage amendments, which will likely result in fewer than ten heads. The amendments are mostly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: The latest on that is that the high-level steering group, comprising senior officials from the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Health, the Mental Health Commission, the Courts Service and the director of the decision support service, which was set up in 2016 to oversee the establishment and the commissioning of the decision support service, is continuing its work. The...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: A great deal of work is going on. Even in recruiting the director and the assistant director, there was a period of approximately five or six months when the process was very difficult. We advertised the position and it was extremely difficult to get the right candidate. The answer to the question is that the service will not become operational before 2019.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: Are we taking all the questions together?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I thank Deputy Chambers for his comments. I am on the same page as him and many other colleagues regarding the UN Convention. It is the implementation that matters. As I have said before, I use the UNCRPD to strengthen my hand when talking to my colleagues in government, and right across every Department, about resources and implementation. I agree with the Deputy. As I strongly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: Can the Deputy repeat that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I have met everybody at this stage. He could have been part of a delegation or team. I do not specifically remember the name of the person. That does not mean I have not met him, because I meet HSE personnel regularly. I meet people from the Department of Health, the HSE and the National Disability Authority, NDA, on a regular basis because I think it is essential to do so. When I meet...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I take the Deputy's point. I am listening to what he says but I do not accept all his arguments. I am totally on top of my brief where people in the disability sector are concerned.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: If the Deputy is addressing mental health issues as well, I note that there is a Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, who is directly involved in that area. I cannot-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I am responsible for intellectual disabilities.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I spend every day of my working life away from the cameras meeting people in the HSE and the Department of Health who work in the area of disability. I also meet individuals from the all of the professions that operate on the front line. Furthermore, as the Deputy is probably aware, I spend a great deal of time meeting families and the service providers. There are often queues of service...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I am very strong on that issue. Regarding the funding, even yesterday-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: -----we were talking about mental health.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: Yes, absolutely. I am on the same page as the Deputy as regards targets.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Update on Disability Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality (27 Jun 2018)

Finian McGrath: I have set myself targets for disability services every single week I have been in this job. The national disability inclusion strategy, which the committee is due to discuss later, is part of that target. The strategy lists 114 actions. We meet every couple of months to analyse what we have achieved in transport, education, service provision, etc. My answer is "Yes" but I can supply the...