John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I grew up listening to the late Liam Cosgrave as he was enunciated on "Hall's Pictorial Weekly". It was not a bad way to get an interest in politics. It was entertaining. To his family, his political family and friends, I express the sympathy and condolences of the Civil Engagement group.

The Civil Engagement group, CEG, called for equality, transparency and sustainability in budget 2018. We called not only for economic transparency but also transparency in social and environmental issues. For a Government with a great capacity for communications, it is telling that those qualities do not jump off the pages, so to speak. The CEG set out five principles for the budget. We hoped it would deliver joined-up thinking for sustainable development. I have already referred to the elements of that which come through the sustainable development goals that Ireland has signed up to, namely, prioritising investment in public services and social infrastructure, and addressing social, economic and gender inequality. I might mention briefly that 70% of carers in this country are women. There are issues for families, young people and elderly people. We called for fairness in taxation. We are a low tax take country at a time when we have major unmet needs across all sectors, be it disability, children and older people. We need to meet our international standards and commitments.

The organisation, Family Carers Ireland, is very disappointed at the response to its call for investment in home care which seems to have fallen on deaf ears. There is a lack of appropriate home care, respite and other vital community supports as well as personal assistants for the disabled. It is disappointed that thousands of family carers throughout the country who are in contact with its centres do not have enough home care support, which leaves them burned out and stressed, with their own health being put in jeopardy. The provision of emergency respite care is a significant issue. We heard Deputy Leo Varadkar speak on this matter on the night he was elected Taoiseach. I know of adults with disabilities who are now acting as carers for their aged parents. That is the position in 2017 as we move into 2018.

The HSE has supplied figures which show that more than 1,200 young people with disabilities are in nursing homes because the services that are needed to allow them to remain in the community are not in place. The Taoiseach is reported this morning as saying that the average family will be €500 to €600 better off. Perhaps that is so, but what is the position of the average family where one of its members has a disability? Another 60,000 to 80,000 families who are not dealing with the issue of disability today will join the families already dealing with disability. That family would happily give up their €500 to €600 if they knew they had access to the services, supports and information they need in a timely fashion.

The Budget Statement did not reference the United Nations convention, yet the convention was strongly and repeatedly referenced by the Taoiseach since his election. In other words, we have been marched up a hill, like the grand old Duke of York, only to be marched back down again. We have had four months of talks about the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and today we have a damp squib. I acknowledge that there have been improvements in the past year for people with disabilities, and today a number of measures that have been set out are all right.

My bitter disappointment is that this Budget Statement could have been a game changer. It could have set the plan and given hope for the emancipation of people with disabilities and their families. This is the commitment of the State to the UN convention. We have for the first time ever a Minister of State supporting the Government on disability issues who attends Cabinet meetings, but the Government does not have a coherent package in line with the stated commitment to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities. In spite of promises from the Taoiseach, the disability community has been sidelined. People with disabilities should not be sidelined at a time when so many issues impacting directly on them need to be addressed in order for the Government to implement its own commitment. As recently as last week the Taoiseach said that he wished to acknowledge absolutely that there are many shortcomings and problems and that much more needs to be done. He also referred directly to finalising spending priorities for 2018: "I am sure we will find additional funding for disability ... that is going to have to form part of the budget and the estimates process". The Taoiseach made other statements. On 14 June he stated in the Dáil, "As a Government, we are renewing our commitment to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this year and to improving services available to people with disabilities, especially respite care and emergency residential places." He also said on 4 October in the context of spending rules that disability will have to form part of the budgetary Estimates. In recent correspondence to me, the Taoiseach said that he appreciated that ratification of the convention is of major concern to people with disabilities and their families and agreed it is not good enough that so much time has elapsed before something has been done about it.

Let me cut to the chase. In the absence of any further clarification, and I hope there will be further clarification, poverty will remain stubbornly high because of the extra costs of daily living that are not being tackled. There is no comfort that there will be resources to support people to live in the community. A total of 1,200 young disabled people are in nursing homes today. There is no commitment to provide social housing to tackle the growing waiting list. There are no resources to turn around the appalling unemployment rate for people with disabilities.

The announcement of the funding of an additional 1,000 SNAs in schools stands out.Where will the kids they are working with go after school? The Government is not thinking about that conundrum.

The 5% increase, the Christmas bonus, the reduction in prescription drugs threshold payments, the increase in the telephone allowance and the charities tax relief are all to be welcomed but they are marginal in the scheme of what needs to be done. The budget had the resources and the Government has the capacity to present us with a whole-of-Government approach. It also has a Minister of State to assist with it, but it has not happened. It is a sad day for the 643,000 people in Ireland with disabilities. There was not something for everyone in this budget, as Senator Burke has suggested.