Seanad debates

Wednesday, 7 October 2020

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Ivana BacikIvana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader for a debate on the disability motion that is listed as the sixth motion on the Order Paper for today, which has been proposed by us in the Labour Party with support from Sinn Féin and the Civic Engagement Group. I thank all colleagues for signing up to it. This is a cross-party initiative, which was also introduced in the Dáil last night, seeking to ensure a cross-party approach to the hugely important issue of disability rights and services. Colleagues on all sides will be aware of the enormous pressure that has been put on families, carers and service providers, as well as on persons with a disability themselves, as a result of Covid. The enormous pressure on services has stretched them to incredible lengths. I spoke this morning with St. Michael's House in Dublin 9. It is just one example of the many services that are suffering from the sort of chronic underfunding mentioned in the motion and the lack of specific provision to enable them to reopen day services in particular. We are calling on colleagues to support this cross-party motion and I call on the Leader to give us Government time to debate it over the coming days, in order that we can approach this in a collegiate and cross-party fashion. It is too important an issue for us not to do so. In particular, the motion calls on the Government to provide the funding required to fully reopen day and other essential disability services. We must also implement all Covid-19 related protocols, which are also placing a huge financial burden on services that are already stretched, and provide the additional funding, resources and capital investment required to guarantee sustainable capacity within disability and dementia services. We have heard disturbing reports of services closing in recent weeks and we need to ensure services are made sustainable in order that they can work through the crisis and beyond to provide the supports that are so essential for people with disabilities, their families and carers.

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