Seanad debates

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Services for People with Disabilities: Motion

 

6:15 pm

Photo of Paschal MooneyPaschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My contribution will not be in my own words but in the words of the Disability Federation of Ireland and of those involved at the coalface. Our role should be to act as a voice, as Senator O'Brien very eloquently and very emotionally put it in her contribution.
I immediately thought of Senator Mary Moran when I read the motion. We share a common bond in that both of us are parents of a person with Prader Willi condition. Listening to Senator O'Brien, I thank God that we have the financial capacity to be able to look after our Siobhán who is now 23, who can live at home and who lives, within the confines of her condition, an independent life and she is the apple of our eye. I understand perfectly the point the Senator is making.
I have dealings in County Leitrim with the Leitrim Association for People with Disabilities and I commend the work they do and their director, Rosaleen Keilthy, who keeps me fully informed whenever there is a need to lobby the Government and to ensure that I give my full support to the motion and to give the Minister of State whatever support is necessary.
I refer to the report of Disability Federation of Ireland. I acknowledge the presence of representatives in the Public Gallery who will recognise their own words:

The small group who established the personal assistance service for themselves and others in the early 1990s had a clear appreciation of what the service was about, namely, self-empowerment to overcome the disadvantage imposed by physical and sensory impairments. Since then, the empowering concept behind the service has been weakened.
Thirty interviews were carried out which came to conclusions in this report. I am reading from some elements of the executive summary of which I am sure the Minister of State is aware. The interviews reveal that many new entrants to the service have less control over their service. It came under stress when the Government took over funding responsibility in the mid-1990s and the administration and training aspects became the responsibility primarily of a voluntary service-provider organisation. Subsequently, the emphasis has shifted to providing for basic personal care needs such as dressing and toileting, with less attention to supports for independent living. With the arrival of austerity, funding for the service has decreased. Not only were more recent entrants likely to have less personal assistance hours to manage, but they also seemed more apprehensive about the future. They worried about the level of their service being sustained, about getting increased hours when their condition worsened or if they wished to leave the parental home. In summary, the research found that the original model of the PA service established by the pioneers has been undermined. Restoring the focus on enabling independent living as well as covering basic care needs would strengthen the service effectiveness for progressing the Government's policy objectives. It would enable service recipients to pursue meaningful lives as they so determine and to continue expanding extending mainstreaming in the footsteps of the pioneers from two decades ago.
The report lists extensive recommendations but because of time constraints I have chosen just a number of them to put on the record of the House. Under the heading of recognition for the PA service, one of the recommendations is that in keeping with Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Department of Justice and Equality should examine the case for establishing the PA service on a statutory basis as one of the supports enabling disabled people to participate as full participants. The wording of the final part of this motion is mirroring the recommendation of Disability Federation of Ireland and it has been addressed by the Minister of State.
The report recommends that since the PA service is exceptional in how it facilitates social inclusion, the Government, especially the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, should explore new ways of funding the service. A national disability insurance scheme similar to that introduced in Australia could ensure secure funding. Another possibility is the establishment of a fund for independent living. It also recommends that the HSE urgently needs to engage with leaders and others in the disability sector to clarify what constitutes a PA service and to put the agreed definition into practice because this seems to be a grey area. Pathways to direct payments where a leader can become the employer also needs to be developed, based on learning from international as well as Irish experience.

A rigorous evaluation of the likely impact of any proposed policy changes on Article 19 commitments is essential and must be evidenced in the Government's national disability strategy implementation plan. According to the report, the co-ordination achieved to date under the national disability strategy has been disappointing. Performance by Departments and State agencies needs to markedly improve. Given the rapid pace of change in policy on personal supports and independent living, it would make sense for the Disability Federation of Ireland or another voluntary disability organisation to repeat this review of leader experience in a few years.

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