Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Cullinane called for a debate on the costs associated with disability, in view of the paper we received yesterday from the Disability Federation of Ireland. We have failed the disability movement and disabled persons in recent years. The Government was to bring in a "money follows the client" approach, whereby we as parents would not get the funding but would get a call on where we could buy services and what agency we could buy them from. I was never one for saying we should just fire lumps of money at service providers, many of which are already bloated and overloaded, particularly because we do not get value or accountability as to how they spend the money. The cost of respite for my own child works out at about €180 per night, but the agency would be getting €380 a night, which is €200 on top of the cost of physically minding the person for the night, and I am sure that happens across many agencies. That is a lot of money as a top-up to the actual cost, given that they would also get the accommodation.

I second Senator Cullinane's suggestion that we invite the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, to the House before the budget for a discussion about the costs of disability and the position with the "money follows the client" concept, which I believe is a key point. Without doubt, the first thing we must do is recognise the fact that to have a family member who is intellectually or physically disabled, or effectively disabled by old age, puts an extra cost on a household. Whether this is recognised in the form of a grant or a tax credit, it must be addressed.

I agree with much of Senator Craughwell's contribution on the position of councillors. I would make the point that, as Senators, we are not going to walk out of here with a big pension after five years and we contribute in a pretty hefty way to our pensions. Having served 12 years on a council, I agree with the Senator that this is a debate that we need to have. I would have had no difficulty contributing to a pension while on the council, which would effectively be a service pension, but we were not afforded that opportunity. As I said to the former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan - I have no qualms about saying this - we have left a massive democratic deficit up and down the country. One can travel from Clonlara or Meelick to Ballyvaughan and still be in the Killaloe electoral area, which covers over 100 miles and even has a coastline. We reduce the size of the councils, their representation and their income, yet we expect the same degree of service. Although Senator Craughwell and I would argue on some points, he is right on this issue. We should have a proper debate on this matter and not just pay lip service to the people from all parties who do a damn good job.