Martin Conway (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after ''That'' and substitute the following:

Seanad Éireann, considering the need to take account of the current budgetary and fiscal situation facing the State, recognises this Government's commitments to people with a disability in the programme for Government including:

developing, in partnership with the disability sector, a national disability strategy implementation plan;

reforming the delivery of public services;

greater participation by people with a disability in employment, training and education in accordance with a revitalised national disability strategy;

a value for money and policy review of disability services;

a move to personalised budgets as part of this review;

implementing national standards for people with a disability living in residential services; and

a reform of the law on mental capacity.

Notes that the Health Service Executive national service plan for 2012 has been drawn up against the backdrop of significant funding challenges and that while the allocation for specialist disability services will reduce by 3.7% nationally, in 2012 the level of service reduction will be less than the level of budget reduction as a result of the efficiencies that will be delivered;

recognises that some reductions in disability services will be unavoidable and welcomes the aim of the HSE to tailor such reductions in a way which minimises the impact on service users and their families as much as possible;

welcomes the provision of €1 million for autism services in 2012 to address waiting times for specialist therapy services for children and the further development of early intervention teams for children with disabilities including autism;

welcomes the Government's intention to publish the value for money and policy review of disability services in the first half of this year,

welcomes the Government's commitment to regulate residential services for people with disabilities;

welcomes the disability policy review which was recently published by the Department of Health for public consultation and which includes proposals to move to individualised funding for disability services to provide greater choice and control to people with a disability;

welcomes the establishment of the national disability strategy implementation group;

welcomes the Government's commitment to publish the mental capacity Bill in the current session of the Oireachtas; and

acknowledges the significant measures the Department of Social Protection has in place to meet the employment-progression needs of people with disabilities.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, back to the House. She is a frequent visitor here at this stage. I commend the Independent Senators for putting down this Private Members' motion. To a certain extent, they stole my thunder because my amendment is similar to the motion. I had proposed Fine Gael would use its Private Members' time next week to put down a similar motion. I am delighted the Independent group has tabled it a week earlier.

I acknowledge the remarkable work done by Senator Mary Ann O'Brien through the Jack and Jill foundation. It is doing the work the Government should have done for many years.

The annual spend on disability services now comes to €1.5 billion. While this is an enormous resource, it has been poorly spent in the past. The Government has not yet been in office for a year - the anniversary is approaching - and already the value for money audit on disability services is at an advanced stage. Will the Minister of State give us an indication as to when we can expect its publication? Some actions have already been taken to deal with some of the issues that arose during this audit.

The largest problem with disability services is that there has been a proliferation of organisations working and advocating on behalf of people with disabilities. Unfortunately, the massive resources made available in recent years have not got to the end-users to the degree we would have liked. We need fundamental change in this regard.

Personalised budgeting for people with disabilities is a fundamental care plan which has worked elsewhere in Europe where introduced. The Government intends to take this direction. Unfortunately, it would have been useful if this had been introduced during the good days when massive resources were available. That said, I must pay tribute to the former Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, John Moloney, who recognised money was wasted and instigated the value for money process which has been taken over by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. We are fortunate to have someone of her calibre heading up this sector. She will take it inch by inch, row by row to ensure the money spent goes to the end-user.

Publication of the mental capacity Bill is imminent. The Minister of State will probably update the House on its progress later this evening. This necessary and urgent legislation is long overdue and should have been introduced years ago. While no further delay in its publication is acceptable, it is important we get it right.

Over the weekend I attended a conference in Vienna on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It was fascinating to hear the difficulties experienced in some European countries in providing disability services along with examples of best practice in others. While we have a long way to go to improving our provision of disability services, other countries experience similar problems. Belgium has very good support structures for people with disabilities. Up to 500,000 people there, however, are on waiting lists for personal assistance services.

I believe in integrated education. The best way of fostering equality and opportunity is to have people with special needs attend school in a mainstream environment. It is interesting to note that in Italy, 99.5% of people with special needs are in integrated education because the laws are in place to ensure it. I would love if we could achieve the same. We need to observe international best practices and implement them here.

Ireland is a caring and charitable nation. However, charity and caring is not what people with disabilities require. They need their rights recognised in legislation and through care packages such as personalised budgeting. The programme for Government is committed to ensuring the lives of people with disabilities will improve and moneys for disability services will be spent wisely. Adequate resources are provided but, unfortunately, their spending is not channelled correctly. Instead, it is broken up all over the sector. I have tried to get a handle on the amounts spent by various Departments but have only come up against brick walls. This is why the value for money audit is critical. That is why within a year of being in Government, we have set a foundation. What we need to do now is build on it and I have no doubt we will do that. I am happy to propose the amendment because it reflects much of what is contained in the motion.