Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

During the debate on suicide, I highlighted an aspect of a Millward Brown poll of Deputies, which showed that more than 50% of them felt that anybody with a mental health issue should not have children. I am sure if Senators were polled the outcome would not be as bad. Other research confirms that Oireachtas Members and society generally have similar views of people with disabilities, which highlights the scale of the challenge we face.

Those of us who have businesses should think deeply about interviewing job applicants and what our attitude would have been to a person with a permanent disability. I am not sure how honest we are with ourselves if we think about this privately among ourselves. People who do not have a disability need to be educated. To give a lead to the private sector, when young people with disabilities leave college, the public sector should guarantee them an internship immediately in the field in which they are qualified to gain valuable experience, which would give them assistance in securing private sector employment. This proposal should be examined.

I agree with individual funding. Disability organisations need money to fund jobs, offices, marketing and advertising. People with disabilities are seen as cash cows by some organisations. I do not say that their intentions are not good but they are swallowing up significant resources unnecessarily. Fianna Fáil supports the motion, as we are all focused on trying to make improvements and a positive contribution in this area.