Tony Kett (Fianna Fail)

I thank all the speakers who contributed to the debate. I am sure it has been as illuminating for the Minister of State as it has been for me. While we are all debating the same issue and while we might engage in political argument about how we mean to go about it, one thing that is certain is that we are all on the same wavelength in terms of what we want to do. We want to improve the lot of people with disabilities. We might have different ways and means of going about it and different views on how we are going about it on this occasion.

We always knew the rights-based issue would again raise its head, as it did the last time. Senator Fitzgerald asked when is a right a right. Is it a right if it is attainable? If it is not attainable, it is not a right. It is more honest to say that this is, to a degree, resourced-based but that certain moneys will be ring-fenced, moneys which had the ability to seep away from the Department of Health and Children, in particular, into mainstream health. That cannot happen now. In addition, a multi-annual allocation will be given over the next five years. Those two elements show a commitment, in financial terms at least, that we mean what we say in regard to providing funds.

No Minister or Department can say in any given year that they have the resources to do A, B and C and stand over it. When running a country, resources are based on what one can and cannot get in or how one's finances or reviews work out in any given year. It is more honest to say what will be done will be based on resources, ring-fencing of moneys and a multi-annual approach.

It is not a fact that, at all times, resources can determine whether a right is attainable. Three years ago, one could not find physiotherapists, speech therapists or occupational therapists in this country. If someone presented themselves under this package with an assessment and came, for example, to the Central Remedial Clinic with it, if one did not have speech therapists, occupational therapists or physiotherapists, one could not give them what was stated in that package. That would have had nothing to do with resources but with the fact that they could not be found. As a consequence of that, over the past three years, there are 19 nationalities working in those three disciplines in the Central Remedial Clinic in Clontarf. They have come from as far away as New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Three years ago, one could not have delivered a right to someone not because of a lack resources, because the resources were there, but because the people were not. To a point, we must wait until people finish in the universities but there are still people presenting from other countries who are highly trained and very professional and who can still be taken on and used to deliver what the strategy states can be delivered.

While this is not the be-all and end-all for people with disability, there is no doubt in my mind — I have spoken to a few of the lobby groups to which Senator McHugh referred — that they are excited about the proposition this presents going forward. Having worked in the area, I have no doubt this presents a new era for people with disability. I am satisfied that sufficient resources will be made available within the next five years to set this in motion. If the economy continues as is, I am absolutely confident that everything the Minister of State said will be achievable.