Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the cross-section of Members of the House who spoke today. I also thank the many Members who contacted me who could not be here for various reasons but who are very supportive of the motion. That is indicative of the fact that nobody tabled an amendment to this motion which is unusual because amendments are tabled to motions in here on a regular basis. It speaks volumes in terms of the specific issue and what we are trying to achieve here.

Of course, I take on board the criticisms. I articulated them myself but probably not as forcefully as my colleague, Senator Boyhan. It would be remiss of any of us not to acknowledge the challenges and the difficulties. As a matter of fact, every month 329 new people go on waiting lists for eye treatment in this country. The number is growing. While many advancements have been made in areas, particularly in cataracts, with the facility in Nenagh which made sense, I often say to people in Clare that we need to be using hospitals, such as Nenagh and Ennis, to deal with our waiting lists for elective care such as this.

As an aside, I note that there are people outside the gate who are upset about the closing of the facility in Roscommon. In the previous Seanad, in 2013, I had the honour to launch an interesting toolkit on behalf of the National Disability Authority, NDA. The authority produced this toolkit for the tourism sector which advised hotels on how to make their facilities user-friendly for those with a disability. What they needed to do in terms of such matters as wheelchair accessibility was obvious and formed part of the building regulations, but this referred to issues such as background music at a certain level for those who may have difficulty hearing, and lighting at reception areas in hotels that needed to be at a certain level to help the visually impaired. It was a brilliant document, which has informed much of the tourism sector on what it needs to do. These are little things that make a big difference that, unless brought to people's attention, they would not necessarily be aware of. I stated earlier on the Order of Business that many people with disabilities now want choice. They do not want to go back to the same place every year. They want to be able to go to different places and there is a duty on the private sector and the public sector to work together to provide equal access to facilities for everybody, irrespective of what their ability or disability is. It was brought up in the debate because it is a live current issue and I merely wanted to give that perspective.

Going back to the motion, the message that will be delivered from Seanad Éireann is clear. Seanad Éireann sees the benefit of the eye clinic liaison officers and the direct impact that they will have quickly on the lives of the ever-growing number of people who suffer sight loss. That is a powerful message because we are Seanad Éireann, the second House of Parliament in this country. What we say here is listened to and matters. The fact that all colleagues came on board to unanimously support this motion sends a clear message to the Minister of State.The €70,000 made available through the HSE to provide eye clinic liaison officers in the Mater Hospital, the Eye and Ear Hospital and Temple Street Hospital is only the beginning. The service plan being drawn up at present for 2020 needs to have an immediate impact. We need to see at least two or three more eye clinic liaison officers funded from it, through the hospital groups, to make what will be the adopted policy of Seanad Éireann a reality. There are people who will assist the Minister of State, the Department, the HSE and others in informing how the structure can be put in place. The structures that will be required in Waterford and Cork will probably be choreographed in a different way from the systems and structures that might apply in Donegal and Sligo, but the fundamentals will be the same. It will just possibly have to be tweaked. A full-time officer may not be required in certain areas whereas 1.5 officers will be required in other areas. I welcome the fact the Minister of State will bring it to the stakeholders' meeting, which he chairs very eloquently. The reports I hear back tell me it is making a difference. What we want to do is create an equal society whereby when somebody discovers he or she has a sight loss, society will engage with him or her straight away to provide the necessary supports.

The Minister of State spoke about the Irish Wheelchair Association getting €40 million a year. The NCBI gets €6.5 million and it does massive work. It is the number one agency dealing with sight loss in the country. The Minister of State is getting exceptional value for money for that €6.5 million. This is something that needs to be addressed with regard to core funding for the organisation. In unison, all Members who spoke today, including the Minister of State, acknowledged the phenomenal work done by the organisation on what can be described as a shoestring budget, but that is for another day.

Today, Seanad Éireann is sending a clear message to the citizens of the country that if they suffer sight loss, the State has a responsibility to ensure there is a person or persons who will immediately engage with them to help them come to terms with the diagnosis and provide immediate and instant access to retraining, equipment, education, peer counselling and the suite of various supports that are necessary. This is a very clear message. The Government has done a lot but an enormous amount still needs to be done. On this particular issue the Parliament and the House have sent a message to the Minister of State and I sincerely hope we will see it delivered.

I produced a booklet. It does not happen very often with Private Members' motions in the House but it is good to try to synopsise what we are trying to achieve in an easily readable format. I thank Aoife in my office for the work she did on it and Professor David Keegan for his input. I thank the House for providing time to debate the motion because time in the House is precious and we do not have a lot of it. I thank the Minister of State for his time and presence, the Members and Fine Gael because there is significant demand within the party for Private Members' time. We do not get it very often, and when we do, there is quite a demand for it. I thank them.