Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil is happy to support this motion. We need to ensure that people with disabilities are given equal opportunities and access to essential services. Some 13% of the population is classified as having a disability. I hope the new national disability inclusion strategy, which is due to be in place by the end of 2016, will reflect this. I think this is crucial. I also welcome the recent establishment of the housing and disability steering groups within our local authorities. I had some queries about these but I believe they have just been set up. I always felt the disability sector had not been addressed enough but at least the steering groups have now been set up. I know the Minister will address the issue.

In 2011 the HSE published Time to Move on from Congregated Settings. A congregated setting is a residential facility with ten or more people, for residential support into mainstream community. This is a crucial issue because on the agenda today is Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which states Persons with disabilities have the opportunity to choose their place of residence and where and with whom they live on an equal basis with others and are not obliged to live in a particular living arrangement". This is crucial. People who have disabilities are very vulnerable in society. I always believe that they are forgotten. I was a member of my local authority for 19 years and, in my experience, the only scheme of funding for people with disabilities was the capital assistance scheme, CAS. This is for people with disabilities, older people and the homeless. If the local authority in Carlow was to apply to the Department for housing for ten people with disabilities, the local authority may only get funding for three. There is always a backlog for people with disabilities. This needs to be addressed. There should be separate capital funding for people with disabilities. I firmly believe the Minister needs to address this issue in the programme for Government.

There are two grants available for people who have disabilities. There is the mobility aids grant which is the local authority grant. However, that grant only goes up to €6,000 which means that only small works can be carried out, such as installing handrails or replacing a bath with a shower. There is also the housing adaptation grant for people with disabilities which is up to €30,000. However, that grant is means tested and where one has a family with disabilities, or one or two children with disabilities, that family has to come up with more of the funding themselves. I ask the Minister to look at the matter of housing adaptation for people with disabilities and examine the position with regard to mobility aids.

It is important that, as the economy recovers, people with disabilities are not left behind. Disability inclusion must be a central tenet of the Government's agenda and access to services and resources must be directed, in the first instance, to those most in need and especially to the people with disabilities.

When I was a councillor - this has also proven to be the case since I came to the Seanad - I felt that the lack of information was the biggest issue relating to disability. I have always been of the view that people with disabilities are forgotten. Perhaps the Minister, when he is putting the new programme in place, could ensure that people with disabilities know their entitlements. This matter needs to be addressed in a serious fashion. I hope the Minister might be able to provide some information on the new action plan. As he is aware, we are dealing with an emergency. We are in the midst of a housing crisis, there is homelessness and children are living in bed and breakfast accommodation. People are trying to get organised to get the children back to school and they are cutting back on food because they cannot afford the costs involved. Will the Minister return to the House urgently with the new housing action plan, particularly as these issues need to be addressed?