John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome to the House the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and his officials. I concur with the Minister's remarks on the obstacles faced by people with disabilities. I broadly welcome the Bill as a step in the right direction, although I wish to raise a number of questions on its provisions. I also intend to raise issues on behalf of my colleague, Fine Gael's Seanad spokesperson on social and family affairs and equality, Senator Terry, who is unavoidably absent.

The Citizens Information Bill 2006 is one of the major strands of the national disability strategy. It will establish a personal advocacy service to be operated by the citizens information board. The establishment of a personal advocacy service to assist people with disabilities in accessing health and personal social services and supports has been urgently sought by numerous disability groups, including in particular the National Disability Authority and Inclusion Ireland. The service aims to ensure equal access to services and supports for people with disabilities.

It is clear that advocacy services for people with disabilities are underdeveloped in Ireland. The 2004 report, Developing an Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities, stated that service providers, the community and voluntary sectors are increasingly aware of the need for these services. An independent advocacy service is essential if people with disabilities are to be fully included in the process of service provision. This will give many people with disabilities, who may be unable to seek services for themselves, the opportunity to put forward their requests and views on the range of services they receive.

Perhaps the Minister will address the following questions in his response. What will be the geographic remit of the personal advocacy service? Where will the personal advocates be based and will they be in Dublin only or around the country? Has the citizens information board determined the number of advocates to be employed, the office supports to be provided and where they will be located?

The Disability Federation of Ireland pointed out that advocacy services can be often passive in that a person must make an application to them. However, individuals may not know where or to whom they must apply, whether they are entitled to the service or even of its existence. How can the most marginalised and vulnerable in society be assisted in taking advantage of this service?

My colleague, Deputy Stanton, has noted that section 5 states that a person must be at "risk of harm to his or her health, welfare or safety if he or she is not provided with the social service or services that he or she is seeking to obtain". These seem very negative grounds for availing of a service. An indication should be given that a person could avail of the service if he or she would benefit from it because, as it stands, individuals will qualify only if harm would come to them should they not receive the service. We should turn that around by stating that a person qualifies if he or she would derive benefit from the service. How does a person prove he or she will come to harm by not receiving a service? The Minister should re-examine this aspect of the Bill.

The issue of prioritising also arises. Subsection (5) of the proposed section 7A, to be inserted by section 5, states: "The board shall have regard to the following to determine the order of priority to be accorded to different qualifying persons in the assignment of personal advocates to such persons:". It goes on to list five different grounds for qualifying. It does not make clear how this will work. It appears that only the most complex services will be dealt with by the personal advocacy service. This matter needs to be teased out further. Otherwise, the service may not be practicable.

Many people with disabilities are found not only in day and residential care and training places, but also in hospitals and places of detention. Under the proposed section 7C, to be inserted by section 5, the personal advocate can enter premises to attend and represent the person at any meeting, consultation or discussion. However, would he or she be able to enter a hospital or place of detention? The Disability Federation of Ireland maintains that the powers of the personal advocate must extend to any place where people with disabilities reside.

Many of those who will qualify for the personal advocacy service will not have the capacity to apply or have someone to apply on their behalf. The Bill appears to provide that a person with an intellectual disability may apply in writing under the proposed section 7B, to be inserted by section 5, or such other forms as specified by the Minister, to the director for the assignment of a personal advocate to him or her, and he or she shall specify in the application the social service or services he or she is seeking to obtain. It is important that the application process is made as simple as possible with the service being proactive instead or reactive. As the Bill stands, it will not reach out to the marginalised people who need this help.

What happens if a personal advocate giving advice and information, and acting for a person with a disability makes a mistake? Is there a review process? The advocates appear to work on their own; in other cases, it would be a team effort. Will the advocate work as part of a team? If the advocate gives incorrect advice, what recourse does the person have?

It is important that the service is independent, particularly of service providers. We must also avoid the establishment of a cartel between advocates and service providers; there should always be a distance between the two. An advocate should be fighting on behalf of a person with a disability. Advocates must also avoid downplaying the expectations of the person with the disability. While the advocate can attend and represent the person at any meeting, consultation or discussion, who decides when the meetings take place? If the person is not qualified, the meeting may not take place at all. Who notifies them of the meetings? Are they entitled to such notification?

The advocate can enter at any reasonable time any place where day care or residential care and training are provided for the person. That avoids mention of places of detention and hospitals. Who defines reasonable time? Is it the service provider? Must an appointment be made and notice given, and when the advocate attends, what can he or she do? These questions were put to Senator Terry by an advocate. I would like the Minister to respond to this point.

A statutory body or voluntary body that provides social services shall co-operate with the personal advocate in the performance of his or her duties. A person who, by act or omission, obstructs or hinders a personal advocate in the performance of his or her function shall be guilty of an offence and will be liable on summary conviction to punishment. Can a statutory or voluntary body be guilty of an offence? While other sections of the Bill state that statutory bodies shall co-operate, this section mentions a "person" who obstructs or hinders an advocate. Who lays that charge? In similar legislation, an advocate or inspector who enters premises needs identification and is required by law to produce it. Otherwise, anyone could claim to be acting as a personal advocate for someone. It is important that it is a requirement that a person demanding entry to premises must have such means of identification. That provision should be added to the Bill. Proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister. What is the process for bringing the information to the Minister?

The sign language interpretation service for deaf people was covered by the original legislation, the Comhairle Act 2000. However, it is not included in the Bill and the Minister did not refer to it in his remarks. What are his intentions regarding this service? If it is not intended to establish it on a statutory basis, will it operate as another of the Department's administrative schemes? The sign language interpretation service is essential for deaf people, many of whom cannot lip-read and suffer high levels of social exclusion that are intensified by poor literacy levels caused by a lack of communication with education providers and teachers. We have a major shortage of sign language interpreters for deaf people. I understand only 50 freelance interpreters serve approximately 5,000 deaf sign language users and many of these are based in the greater Dublin area. How many additional interpreters will be provided? Where will they be trained and how will they be distributed?

The Bill does not include a facility for the director of the personal advocacy service to appear before an Oireachtas committee, except in the case of accounting for funds. While an Oireachtas committee may be able to call the director before it, similar legislation on other bodies makes explicit provision for directors to appear before committees of the Houses at regular intervals to explain the operation of his or her service.

I welcome the Bill, which represents a step in the right direction. However, a number of issues have been brought to our attention and I ask the Minister to respond to them.