Marie Moloney (Labour)

I welcome all those in the Visitors' Gallery and I also welcome the Minister of State. Yesterday I drove four hours from Killarney to attend a briefing by Inclusion Ireland. It was one of the most informative briefings I have attended to date. The issues that were raised at the briefing are some of the most important I have heard regarding people with disabilities and, for once, it was not all about money.

It was about equality and fairness, and the right of people with disabilities to be treated with due respect and as an equal. Is that too much for someone to ask for in life?

We should focus not on the "dis" in disabilities, but on the word "ability" that is contained in the word "disability". We should focus on the ability of people with disabilities - on what they can do and achieve. Just because a person has a disability it does not mean he or she is on the scrapheap, or cannot think and speak for himself or herself. Of course some people have a profound disability and cannot speak for themselves, and it is incumbent on us to speak up for these people.

I had many items I would like to address but five or six minutes does not cover it. One of the most disturbing things I heard yesterday and it made me emotional when I heard it was one woman telling us the story of her daughter, who is officially known in this country as an "idiot" under the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871. How heartbreaking is it for any parent to hear that? This Act, introduced under British rule, is nothing short of an insult to people with intellectual disabilities and must change. That any human being can be diagnosed as an idiot or a lunatic is a disgrace and reflects badly on successive governments. I do not blame any one party because we are all to blame and this should have been addressed long before now. This is a dated and antiquated Act and I commend the Minister of State on the proposals to introduce the mental incapacity Bill. It cannot be put on the backburner and must be dealt with as a matter of urgency.

Yesterday I was advised of a person who had being using the services of an organisation but is no longer availing of these services. However, the money continues to be paid to the service provider even though the HSE has been advised on numerous occasions that the person is no longer using the service. We should consider something similar to the proposed health insurance for all whereby the money follows the patient and not the service. In this case the money should follow the person with the disability in order that he or she can use whatever services are of value to help the person with his or her disability and provide a superior standard of life.

I welcome that the Minister of State is carrying out the value for money review of the disability services. We need to know that the services being provided meet the objectives of the person with the disability. I add my voice to commend the former Minister of State, John Moloney, for instigating this review. I know the Minister of State will continue it and see it through.

I commend the Independent group of Senators on tabling today's motion which allows us to have an open and frank debate on the matter. Although I agree with the sentiment of the motion I will be voting for the Government's amendment for two reasons. First, I believe the Government must not rush this through. Proper legislation must be put in place and as someone said yesterday having no law is better than having bad law. I am allowing the Minister of State time to deal with the issue properly, but deal with it she must. Second, if I voted against the amendment I would lose the party whip, be expelled from the parliamentary party and find myself on the outside looking in. I want to be attending the parliamentary party meetings to keep the issue on the agenda and that I will be doing. At the end of the 24th Seanad if I feel I have been instrumental in any way in bringing about change in this insulting Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871, I will feel that my time spent in the Seanad was worthwhile.