Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Power, to the House and thank him for being present for the entire debate. I commend the Leader on scheduling such a substantial amount of time for this debate and giving us all an opportunity to elaborate on our views on the Bill. To elaborate on the context for the Disability Bill I shall have to go back in time and reflect on the history of the whole debate around the rights of people with disabilities.

I worked for the coalition Government which was in power during the first half of the 1990s when Mr. Mervyn Taylor was the first and only Minister for Equality and Law Reform. It was necessary to have a Minister solely with responsibility for equality and law reform to drive that agenda which would have been, and still is, a core part of Labour Party principles in this area. I specifically remember at the time that bringing the issue of the rights of people with disabilities on to the agenda was a new departure. While some had talked about it, they were not being heard. It was very much a minority issue. I avail of this opportunity to acknowledge the work of former Minister, Mr. Mervyn Taylor, and his passionate commitment for this subject, and those who worked with him, in putting the issue of the rights of people with disabilities at the top of the political agenda because that transformed the whole debate. That is what we were committed to and remain committed to and the Bill is deficient because it does not put the rights of people with disabilities at the core of the legislation. It is substantial legislation and does a great deal but it is missing a key ingredient. Those involved in the debate, and particularly those representing people with disabilities, have stated over and again that unless a statutory right is created for people with disabilities a fundamental building block has been left out without which it cannot be successful. This legislation is like a house without a foundation. It is like a car hidden down the road without a key part of its engine. It can struggle on and will be effective in some ways but it will never fulfil its potential and it will not meet the needs of those it is intended to meet, namely, people with disabilities.

The other part of the debate about the rights of people with disabilities is fundamental to who we are as a nation and as a society and specifically who we are in our relationship with people with disabilities. By denying people with disabilities what they seek and passionately demand — a right, statutorily expressed — we are making a particular statement. This is a core us for us politically as to what our real attitude is towards people with disabilities. What is the cause of the resistance to awarding that right and to giving people equality? What is that resistance all about?

I have listened to many of the contributions in the debate here and I read the Dáil and the Committee Stage debates. It appears to me that what we are coming down to is a fundamental issue for us politically. It is no surprise there has been so much debate on it, not just in the Oireachtas, but in society generally. That debate has continued for well over ten years. Some progress has been made. When the then Minister, Mervyn Taylor, started this debate more than ten years ago the issue of people with disabilities having rights was a minority issue; now it is at the core of political debate but our response defines us politically. I am disappointed at how deaf the Government is to the passionate pleas of people with disabilities and the organisations that represent them in regard to the legislation.

I, and I am sure many others, have received considerable correspondence on this issue, not only from people in my constituency but from the representative organisations. Recently I received a letter from the Disability Federation of Ireland concerning the Seanad debate. The point was made by its chief executive, John Dolan, that the Bill is coming to us at a critical time when we are all coming closer to understanding our different concerns and perspectives. We must acknowledge that everybody has moved on to a point where we have a greater understanding of the concerns and perspectives of people with disabilities. The question is whether we are reflecting them. I agree with the Disability Federation of Ireland that we in the body politic are not fully meeting their concerns and appreciating their perspectives.

The Disability Federation of Ireland supports more than 150 voluntary disability organisations that advocate on behalf of and provide services to people with disabilities. We all know people who work for the Disability Federation of Ireland and work directly with people with disabilities. That organisation has identified a number of flaws in the legislation although it has revised its list down from ten to five fundamental issues . I acknowledge that the Government has made some progress. The Disability Federation of Ireland wants "a clear and unequivocal right to an assessment of need which must not be resource dependent". That issue goes to the heart of the legislation. It is no surprise the Disability Federation of Ireland representing so many people with disabilities would demand that. Unless the right is contained in the legislation, assessment will depend on when the resources are available. That has been the experience of people with disabilities down through the years. It will be done when the money is available. There is a commitment to resources and things are good at present but for too many years when it came to the provision of resources the people with disabilities were at the end of the line. The DFI also wants the services identified in the assessment of need for an individual to be provided within a reasonable and agreed timeframe. We make this point regularly. We can aspire to something and say something must be done and even frame it in legislation. However, unless we say it has to be done by a certain time it disappears or is out there in the stratosphere. It is a vague aspiration rather than a definite objective and target to be achieved.

The Bill must provide for clear protection of disability-specific resources. The provisions regarding sectoral plans must take account of the wider needs of people with disabilities. Each Department with relevant services must provide a sectoral plan. It goes on to state: "The Bill must provide a clear statutory duty on all Government Departments and public bodies to include people with disabilities in their plans and services with appropriate monitoring and accountability". These are all key points. The reason for the demand is because the past experience of people with disabilities has been that unless it is incorporated into legislation in clear and certain terms, it cannot be assured that it will happen. In view of their experience there is a not surprising scepticism as to whether a Government will deliver what it promises.

This correspondence states the Government has indicated its willingness to consider the fifth issue in the DLCG's list, the provision of a statutory duty on all Departments to include people with disabilities in their plans and services with appropriate monitoring and accountability. This is to be welcomed.

I refer to the experience of one individual which happened two years ago. I received a telephone call from a woman who is wheelchair-bound. At that point she was working in the Civil Service and was experiencing severe difficulty as a disabled person. She was employed within the terms of the quota set out in the commitment by the public service to employ a certain number of people with disabilities.