Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise a couple of issues ahead of the budget. My own family are involved in the coach and bus business. We all know the tourism industry has been decimated. The cost of fuel has risen far ahead of what it is in Northern Ireland. The fact is that operators cannot reclaim VAT on diesel whereas those in the North can, so they are now totally uncompetitive when compared with the Northern Ireland bus companies in terms of getting contracts here. That needs to be looked at.

A good friend of mine, James Cawley, is the policy officer with Independent Living Movement Ireland. He asked me to highlight a number of its concerns. First, there is no legal right to personal assistance services in Ireland. The Government needs to prioritise investment and enact legislation to enable disabled people to live the life they choose. Second, a specific budgetary commitment needs to be made to cost and resource full and timely implementation of moving people out of congregated settings. Some 7.5% of all new social housing and housing provided by approved housing bodies must be ring-fenced for disabled people. We need to increase the public service employment target from 3% to 6%. We also need to invest in a fully accessible transport system which connects disabled people and enables them to be included in the community. There is a need to continue to embed disability in the commitment to equality and human rights budgeting. Disabled persons organisations should be directly consulted and engaged with in all policy discussions impacting on disabled people's lives as they are the experts with their lived experience. It is very important that any decisions that need to be made are made in conjunction with these organisations that have the lived experience.