Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, who should now be called the Minister for the Seanad as he comes here so often. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, who attended on Tuesday and Wednesday and will return on Committee Stage.

I have an interest in this topic but I will not go into specific details about wider family issues. For many years I have had a great interest in the area of disability and I acknowledge the need for proper legislation to underpin it. This is the most consultative piece of legislation of which I have heard. I am surprised the consultation groups did not meet themselves coming back because there seems to have been intense consultation. This is to be welcomed but legislation must be produced because consultation cannot go on forever. It is good to consult but it is good to bring an end to it and produce legislation, which is what the Government is doing.

I am very taken by the Disability Legislation Consultation Group, DLCG. All the groupings involved in the disability sector were gathered together and were widely consulted. For many years people with disabilities have been left in the shadows. They must be given the opportunity to come into the uplands, into the plains, through legislation. Otherwise, the services would not be provided and neither would the independent right to an assessment. The legislation provides for a right to an assessment. It provides that each person will have a right to an assessment and to a service statement. This was proposed by the DLCG. Senator O'Meara and others have also sought it and it is provided in the Bill.

However, the Senator and others also want the provision of a service statement to be a right. That is not to decry the sentiment. We would all wish for education, health services, etc., to be available as of right. However, if that is to be the way, how would everybody get what was needed in different spheres of life? I hope the implementation of this Bill and the financial input into it will mean that within a reasonable timeframe the service statement of the needs of a person with a disability can be worked through and those services will be delivered. It is appropriate for that to be so.

Following the intensive consultation, a sundering of the ways seemed to take place and while some groups left the consultative process, many stayed in, including a wide variety of groups which have also written to me stating, as mentioned by Senator O'Meara, they were pleased with the useful amendments tabled by the Minister of State on Committee Stage. They certainly helped to address many of the issues that needed to be addressed. As a result, the DLCG met the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, and then met the Taoiseach. That group raised many other issues. For many years people who worked so hard for those with disabilities did so with a feeling that anything they got was through patronage. Those supplying resources often said: "Weren't we very good to give you that?" They should have those resources because they are human beings and are entitled to a level of service and housing and to have their daily needs met.

I know a woman in a wheelchair who worked in a Department having been employed under the 3% quota system. Many Departments do not run the system effectively and some do not run it at all. I always admired Secretaries General and officials who felt bound by the system and employed such people. While having such a public service job is fine, how does that person get to work? While Departments that operate the 3% quota are usually good at sorting out office accommodation that will suit, it is difficult for people to get there. Deputy Mary Wallace was a very good Minister of State who had responsibility for this area. Earlier Senator Wilson said we had come forward very willingly with our ideas on transport accessibility. For those in wheelchairs to get on to a train the platform needs to be properly arranged. Once they arrive at a station like Heuston Station, they can get a wheelchair accessible taxi or bus to get to their place of work where hopefully they have proper office accommodation to allow them to go about their business. However, there are many steps and physical obstacles along the way which hinder such people getting to their place of work.

The sectoral plans are very important. I would like the Bill to confer on officials, Ministers and all of us a change of mindset as to how we view disability, which will be very difficult and will require continual training courses. From my dealings with officials in the last Department at which I was Minister, I found it very difficult to knock their heads together on the issue and let them know that we were required to do this. It is not a question of doing so as a grateful favour. It should be done because of human rights and is not something that should stand to fall or rise according to the whim of officials or Ministers. To change mindsets in the six sectoral Departments involved, the lead must come from the Minister in charge who on a regular basis will need to convene the officials dealing with the needs of the disabled and ask them what has been done since they last met and drive the matter forward in that fashion. It is nonsense to say that it will be done by 2018 or whatever. What about all the people whose lives will be blighted in the meantime because they are not getting the entitlements which they know they are now due?

On Monday night in Mullingar I attended a wonderful presentation by the Centre for Independent Living, established when Mr. Mervyn Taylor was Minister for Equality and Law Reform, which has branches in Kinnegad and Tullamore. That service has made a major difference to people. Each person was accompanied by his or her helper — I am always afraid using the wrong word in this area.