Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Colm Burke for this issue. I welcome his comments on the setting up of this group and I accept his point that we need to move on this particular issue on transfer for people with disabilities and that we need to deal with it over the next 12 months. I also want to say something on the strong economic argument which is used regularly with service providers. I came across one service provider recently which gets a grant of €90 million a year and yet it was looking at cutting back transport services to very complex young adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. That is not acceptable to me and we told it to go back to the drawing board and to not cut transport services. We told it that if it wants to do other reorganisation to its finances it can go ahead but to not do that. That goes on.

The Senator made a very strong and important point and my plan is to try to get services in the local community as near to families as possible. The Senator's argument, which I will relay to my officials and the people in the HSE, is that if we do not provide transport for these young adults with these intellectual and physical disabilities and if they go into residential care, they will actually cost the taxpayer more money. That is a very valid economic argument. In addition, the human rights argument - which I have always pushed very strongly - is that the best idea is to try and get services running from their home to the service provider. Children and young adults in rural areas have to be looked at as well. At present, I am looking at and working closely with this group and I am going to deal with this issue. I will deal with the issue of the high cost of transport as well. The Senator mentioned a figure there related to the issue of mobility and families who bring disabled children or teenagers around the place. I am considering legislation for transport mobility and there are in the region of 4,700 such people in the wider community. These are all issues that we have to deal with. As the fellow says, if we get two or three years to deal with these things, I will be delighted.