Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hope the Minister of State will forgive me in the first instance. Sometimes I have to read my notes off my phone. I hate doing it and I hope the Minister of State does not think me ignorant. It is me and the relationship I have with the printer in my office. Sometimes it is not good.

As several of my colleagues pointed out in the debate in the Dáil, this is a very important Bill. Colleagues in the Seanad have acknowledged this also. It transfers responsibility for specialist community-based disability services from the Minister for Health to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The Bill is quite substantive. Once it has been fully implemented, it will bring an additional layer of accountability for the development and provision of disability services. Many challenges in this area need to be addressed urgently, including tackling waiting lists and reducing wait times. We must improve access to speech and language therapy, physiotherapy, counselling and the wide-ranging supports many children and adults need to help them to live full and independent lives.

Although responsibility for mental health remains with the Department of Health, there is an onus on the Minister with responsibility for children and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability not to lose sight of the toll on children's mental health caused by inexcusable waiting lists for disability services and the difficulties that being differently abled in this world can bring. At the end of last year, 4,000 children were still waiting for an assessment of need and more still were waiting for further diagnostic assessment. Professionals in the system are concerned that due to understaffing, assessments are not being carried out as thoroughly as they should be. Parents are also concerned their children are not receiving the range of therapies they need. Very often parents have to battle with the system to get the services their children need. It is all about capacity. The professionals are doing their best and parents are also doing their best.

We all must become advocates of what is best for the children. The Minister of State should become an advocate for a whole-of-government approach to deliver a new social model of disability inclusion. I hope this is something the Minister of State will agree with. A new social model needs to take into account that disability is not solely a health matter. This is acknowledged in the intent of the Bill. There is a need to move away from the medical model of disability and embrace a rights-based model. Disability needs to be viewed as being caused by the way society is organised rather than by a person's impairment or difference. We need to look at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people so that when these barriers are removed, disabled people can be independent and equal in society with choice and control over their own lives.

The ratification of the UNCRPD is a step in the right direction. The Government needs to complete this process by ratifying the optional protocol of the convention. This legal foundation will make it easier to develop the social model and protect the human rights of those people who are disabled. The task before us is formidable but nonetheless doable. The scale of the task is reflected in the findings of the disability capacity review of specialist community-based services. It identified the need for a major budget increase to handle the demographic changes to provide access to housing and independent living supports to phase out the old system whereby 1,800 disabled people are living in large residential settings and 1,300 disabled people under the age of 65 are living in nursing homes.

There is a data deficit when it comes to disability also. Data from various Departments need to be married to ensure the most comprehensive person-centred responses can be delivered. Without baseline data it would be very difficult to track success or otherwise in disability services. The State is rich in policy and relevant legislation but it is constantly weak on implementation. Implementation is crucial to the success of a new social model dealing with the disabled and their much-needed services.

I support the legislation, as did colleagues in the Dáil. I look forward to its progress through the Seanad and to engaging with the Minister of State, officials and other relevant Departments on its roll-out and implementation. I followed the debate from the office before I came to the Chamber. This has to be centred on people with disabilities. They have to feel tangibly the real outcomes of what can be a very beneficial move and step forward. I wish the legislation well and I sincerely hope it can begin the process of effective delivery for the people it hopes to help.