John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. The Minister of State began his contribution by setting the debate in the context of the budget for 2018. We have gone from 2014 until 2017, and we are into the fifth year post-recession, since the troika left Ireland. I do not enjoy saying that the recession has not ended for people with disabilities and mental health needs when it comes to the health service. It is very interesting that the Taoiseach said on the night he was elected on 14 June that we are renewing our commitment to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this year. There are six weeks to go to the end of this year. He also committed to improving services available to people with disabilities, especially respite care and emergency residential places. They did not figure in any obvious way in the Budget Statement.It is quite interesting that two issues the Taoiseach named, two among many, have been raised again by Senator Colm Burke and others. There is a real issue if something the Taoiseach prioritised the day he was elected does not turn up four months later in the budget.

Several areas were mentioned in respect of needs of people with disabilities, for example, personal assistants, a range of community and home supports such as home help, and access to various therapies. We could call that a basket of community supports. The Minister of State mentioned in his extensive speech that there are 23,000 people in nursing homes. Approximately 5% of them are young people with disabilities who should not be in nursing homes. There are 1,200 people our age and younger in those nursing homes. A person's average length of stay in a nursing home is two years and the next location is a grave. It is absolutely unacceptable by any metric that young people with disabilities, regardless of their critical needs, are in that situation. Part of the reason for it is that all the instruments in the community, home supports and personal assistants have been shaved, year in year out. When people from the HSE come along the only tool in their box is an application for a nursing home. That costs the State money.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities refers to deprivation of liberty and changing legislation to deal with that. If we just changed how we provide services we might not deprive people of so much liberty, not only their own but that of their family members. These are young people, many of them in family situations. They are real issues. I am grateful that I can depend on Senator Boyhan to mention the 12 beds in the National Rehabilitation Hospital, NRH, four of which are now open. These are for the same group of people who are locked away in acute hospitals which have huge pressures. They cannot get into the NRH and the problem is how to get from there to their homes and all that involves.

I was in Longford last night at St. Christopher's Services for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities. The Minister, Deputy Harris, was there a few days earlier. I thought they had spruced the place up because I was visiting, then I realised the Minister had been there. The critical areas were mentioned to him, such as access to psychological and behavioural support services. They are trying to get through with one tenth of a professional per week to support people. That is just an example of the problems.

A councillor who spoke to me during the week had made representations on behalf of a 40-year old woman with multiple sclerosis, MS, whose situation had deteriorated significantly in the past year, from being ambulant she is now using a motorised wheelchair. I am not slagging the HSE but somebody said the only way that woman would get a service is when somebody else who has MS dies. That is not an isolated case. There are many such cases. There is a crisis but it is behind people's doors and does not burst into the open. It is important for the Department of Health to own up to the fact that there is a real problem, then let us see if we can work towards fixing it. That will take time. The demographics are going against us. People are living longer. The census has told us the number of people in the State with disabilities has increased by 0.5%, from 13% to 13.5%.

I have tried, time out of number, on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health to get estimates or guesstimates of the projected need for people with disabilities and mental health needs in this State. An estimate may change. It is like budgeting but there is a reticence to say these are the issues that we have. We cannot deal with them if we do not put them up front. Does the Minister of State or the Department have figures and estimates for waiting lists, the closing of waiting lists and some sense of the issues confronting this country? I will be the happiest person in the world and will come back here and go on my knees if I am wrong and apologise. The whole problem of disability and mental health needs is going to burst open on us. This is surfacing and people are taking it on the chin in their homes in every town and townland in the country. Please give us the estimates and figures. Let the people of Ireland know what we are dealing with so that we can say honestly we will or will not do something about it. Right now, the situation is totally unacceptable.