Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also commend and congratulate Senator Conway. I thank him for the booklet he has provided, which outlines in very readable terms the motion on the eye clinic liaison officer services to be rolled out across all Irish eye clinics. Senator Conway is a champion for those with disabilities and those who have lost their sight in particular. He made me much more aware of the difficulties involved when we dined together in the dark with a group of people in the Oireachtas. It is a great experience which gives one a different perspective from those with no vision problems.

I view eye clinic liaison officers in the same vein as dementia officers, for which the Oireachtas group on dementia fought and sought funding. We now have several dementia advisers, though we looked for more. Such officers will prevent the clogging up of clinicians', consultants' and medics' time and will allow them to deal with new and complex cases, as well as rapidly reduce the waiting list. This is about a living experience of independence within one's own community and providing those ever-important links to available resources and services. Many people remain ignorant of such resources because it is so difficult to disseminate the information. Liaison officers will make that task much easier, as the experiences in the UK have proven.

As a Member of the real Opposition - that is not a personal dig at Senator Swanick - it is my job to point out the paucity of disability services despite increased demand. The first issue is the withdrawal of the rehabilitative training allowance in the budget, which was quite mean and short-sighted. We discussed that here previously. It should have been paid to school leavers this September in order to enhance independent living. In the grand scheme of things, it would have cost €3.7 million to restore, but its value to the people who received it is priceless. There are also waiting lists for home support services. It cannot be said that the Government is seriously providing for citizens with a disability while many who have already been assessed and qualify are still waiting for services. The waiting list should be cleared.

The motion mentions the Government's ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. While we all welcome this move, it was well known that ratifying the convention would mean actions and resourcing would be needed straight away. We have battled this out on this floor many times. That resourcing has not happened. The optional protocol to the convention should also be signed up to and all the necessary resources provided for its enactment.

We in Sinn Féin welcome this initiative and I again congratulate Senator Conway on bringing this motion forward. I hope this will be extended to all hospital groups. I am also aware that the huge delays in cataract procedures mean many people are needlessly suffering restricted sight. The figures given by my colleague, Senator Boyhan, show that there are currently 43,700 people on the outpatient eye care waiting list. That is an upward trend from the 38,000 who were on the list at the end of 2016. Some 18,700 of these people are waiting more than a year and 13,000 are waiting more than 18 months. Almost 8,700 people were awaiting inpatient eye procedures at the end of August. Much like the long waiting lists for assessments and therapies, the claim that things are improving is diluted for citizens left waiting for such long periods.

In November 2017, the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, VPSJ, issued a report showing the much higher cost of living for people with visual impairment and made recommendations for adjustments to be made in welfare receipts, in order to meet the universally accepted definition of an acceptable standard of living. That has been ignored. The blind person's pension is exactly equivalent to the jobseeker's allowance, and like the jobseeker's allowance, has not been increased this year. It has not even increased in line with inflation, which means blind people are even poorer now than they were this time last year. Figures from the 2016 census show that unemployment for people with severe visual impairment is above 75%, and is possibly closer to 86%. That is a disgrace. We need to get people employed and independent. Perhaps eye clinic liaison officers will have some input there, by keeping people in their communities and looking out for valuable and satisfying work.

I refer to the recent decision by the Irish Wheelchair Association to cease operating the Cuisle retreat in County Roscommon, which I also spoke about on the Order of Business. Many families are devastated that a service that means so much to them will potentially disappear, though I hope it will not. This issue also demonstrates how much the voluntary sector makes up for the Government's failure to provide health services. I ask the Minister of State to use his influence to ensure a 12-month stay for the Cuisle centre until a long-term solution can be found. It is ironic that while we are discussing a motion which praises the Government's record on disability rights, wheelchair-dependent citizens are outside the gates of this House asking the Government to step in and save vital services. I urge the Minister of State to ensure the reinstatement of basic rights for those with disabilities and aim for full implementation of the UNCRPD, as well as the optional protocol. I also wish for the advancement of the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which contains many good amendments addressing the need to make rights that are on paper real for those affected.

I again congratulate Senator Conway. He is to be commended on highlighting the positive impact eye clinic liaison officers have. I wholeheartedly support rolling them out across all Irish hospital eye clinics.