Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House and thank him for coming in. I know of his special interest in people with disabilities. I will go backwards to come forwards and refer to the over 70s prescription charges which came into effect on 1 April. It has been a great success story. I met recently with the families of young adults with disabilities, and I will give a particular example of a family I was speaking to. Their young son is blind and has severe disabilities connected with it. He has to live in a specialised care home because of the severity of his difficulties. He gets the blind pension of €188 a week. He pays approximately €90 in rent, and once his other commitments are deducted, he finds it hard to meet the €25 a month limit for his prescription charges. A number of families raised the fact that the over 70s reduction of 50 cent has made a huge difference to people over 70. Could it be looked at for people with severe disabilities? That slight reduction would help to alleviate the difficulties around the payout they have to make every month. The young man who I am referring to is restricted in many of the things he can do, but he likes to go to the gym. He has to pay his gym membership out of that €188 a week he receives. By the time all the payments are made he is dependent on his family for other payments and commitments. It is time that we started looking at small things which would help to make a difference to the lives of people, especially those with difficulties and disabilities.