Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for her commitment and dedication in this area. It is worth reiterating the figures she outlined in her statement. People often talk about taxation, but it is important to consider the purposes for which taxation moneys are used. As the Minister of State indicated, €1.5 billion is being spent in this area in 2015. This will enable the provision of a very valuable service right across the board, involving 9,000 residential services, more than 22,000 people availing of day services and 190,000 overnight respite stays. Some 3.9 million hours of personal assistant home support are being provided. We tend to focus in these discussions on the areas in which something has gone wrong, which is only natural, but we should also focus on the dedication and commitment of the people working in this area. They are extremely committed, dedicated and hard working and they provide an excellent service. It is important, too, to recognise the work parents do in supporting the services that are provided, whether by raising additional funding or in other ways. In Cork, for instance, the Cope Foundation provides assistance to more than 1,200 people and is supported in its work by the parents who depend upon that service.

An area that is not under the Minister of State's remit but about which I have serious concern is the lack of co-operation with local authorities in the delivery of services. In fairness, health service staff are very committed and working very hard, as are organisations like the Cope Foundation and local community nurses. However, the lack of connection between the HSE and local authorities is an ongoing issue, particularly in Cork city and county. I have been aware of what is happening in Cork for some time but was shocked in recent days to see a comparison between the situation in Cork city and in Louth. If a local authority tenant in Cork city wishes to undertake adaptation work, he or she will be waiting for six and a half to seven years. In Louth, on the other hand, such a tenant will receive approval within three months, as I understand it.There is something radically wrong in that. I am aware it does come under the Minister of State's remit but what it does come under her remit is the co-ordination of services. In her opening statement she said:

The provision of disability services is not just for the Department of Health. Under the Disability Act, there is an onus on all Departments and public bodies to provide the same services to all citizens, including those with a disability. This is a fundamental pillar of the national disability strategy.

That is not happening in the area I am talking about, for two families in particular. I am aware of 35 to 40 cases also on the books which have been waiting for six and a half years. The children in the two families have intellectual and physical disabilities. The families are providing full support to these children but a State service is not provided in terms of housing. They are living in local authorities houses which are not adapted. Something must be done in this area. I have referred the two cases to the Ombudsman because these people are not getting the supports they deserve.

I wish to raise the role of access officers in local authorities. The Disability Act provides that an access officer should be in place in each local authority area. However, there appears to be a misunderstanding in local authorities on this issue. I have been in contact with a number of local authorities as regards the role of the access officer. There is a huge variation on how the role of the access officer is interpreted. In one local authority I was informed that the only role of the access officer is in regard to access to public buildings. I have information outlining the workload of the access officer in the past 12 months and it clearly relates to local authority buildings whereas other local authorities are fully implementing what was intended by the Disability Act for the role of the access officers. I have spoken to the National Disability Authority which has agreed to write to each local authority on this matter. While we have appointed people to the role we appear to have a lack of understanding on what is their role. The role is not only about access to public buildings, it is also about access to services for people with disabilities and access to local authority housing to ensure the necessary work required to cater those with a disability is carried out so that they have adequate facilities within that local authority house. There is a serious issue here.

The other issue that concerns me is people with disabilities and local authorities. In fairness to the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, gave a detailed reply here on the issue I had raised. In some local authorities, one person is not in charge of dealing with local authority tenants who have a disability and one has to go from housing to finance to architects and engineers. Recently, I spent an hour on the telephone dealing with one case, going from one department to another but not getting any clear answer about who was responsible. I have raised the issue with the local authority in the past two weeks. I want one person in each local authority to take charge of each of these files so that when families telephone the local authority, they can get an answer about how their file is being progressed. In many cases, families have thrown in the towel. Given that it took me an hour to find out where the file was, what is it like for people who have a disability or whose children have a disability and they are trying to access the services? The Minister of State is doing a very good job in her Department as is the HSE but there is that lack of co-ordination. I spoke to the COPE Foundation in Cork which is involved with these families. Every time it telephones the local authority, the attitude is that this is just another number on the list waiting for money from Dublin, whereas all the other local authorities with whom I have discussed the issue, do not appear to have the same problem. I ask the Minister of State to ensure this matter is dealt with in a constructive and co-ordinated way in order that no family has to wait six and a half to seven years to get work done. I ask that this happens following the debate here.