Seanad debates

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Victor BoyhanVictor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not know about that, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. I want to speak in favour of Senator Conway's remarks on extra support for disabilities. I made some inquiries, and it was my understanding from the Houses of the Oireachtas that there was additional funding, resources and staff for people with a disability, and rightly so. I speak as someone with a lot of knowledge of local councils. I am a director of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind for many years and have advocated really strongly for it. Many of the service users of Irish guide dogs are working as telephonists in various local authorities. One thing that is really good about our local authorities is that these users are supported with additional assistance around accessing the building, the utilities and also accessing open spaces for the dogs, etc. It is really important and I would be quite disappointed, as we all would be, if people did not have that extra support. What Senator Conway outlined warrants some further inquiries, because we should support people with disabilities. I have come across three or four people who have started employment here in recent weeks who have disabilities. That is really important. We might say hello to them when we encounter them in the corridor. The conversations I had was that people tend to back off when someone has a visual impairment or a long cane, not because people are indifferent but because sometimes they feel awkward. We need to have a conversation with everyone. I welcome the good news that ten-year-old Adam Terry has had his operation. His parents issued a statement to RTÉ and that is really positive. However, 170 other children are still languishing on waiting lists. They are still in pain as they await surgery. I know the Leader and her office made strenuous efforts to arrange a debate with the Minister but I am disappointed with the date of Tuesday, 23 November. It is simply not good enough. I do not want to come in here to roar, shout and fight with people. None of us wants to do that. We all have a job to do but, quite frankly, Tuesday, 23 November, which is in three weeks, is not good enough, considering I first requested a debate two weeks ago. I am not prepared to accept that and I do not believe the Members of this House are prepared to accept it either.

I know the Leader's office has gone back to the Minister's office to make inquiries. I wrote to the Minister today and I look forward to his response. I must acknowledge that when one writes to the Minister for Health, one gets a detailed response. I wanted to share my own concerns with him. It is important when one is getting a message out that it is one's own message and not spin or someone else's version of the message. My message to the Leader, respectfully, is that I will make a proposal on tomorrow's Order of Business if we cannot negotiate an earlier debate. I do not want to put too much pressure on people. I am prepared to give the Minister another week but I am not prepared, on behalf of those in scoliosis advocacy groups to whom I have spoken, to wait for three more weeks for the Minister to come to this House for five or ten minutes to set out his timeline. I respect that the Leader has a difficult job and is dealing with the Minister's office but I hope we can have some movement on this before tomorrow.

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