Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming today. I want to make a brief appeal to her. I have received a number of representations from disabled artists and like every other artist in the country, they want to have a meaningful and self-supporting role in society and to contribute meaningfully to Irish cultural life and Irish art. However they face steep challenges. Without going into too much detail, Ireland, sadly, is a difficult place in which to have a disability. One in five persons with disabilities in Ireland experience consistent poverty and 27% of homeless people are disabled citizens, even though disabled citizens only consist of around 13% of the population. They are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, poverty, social isolation, sub-optimal medical outcomes and life limiting consequences not just because of their disability but because they are disabled in Ireland. We are outliers. I am sorry to say this but Ireland is the worst country in Europe to have a disability on so many different measures.

I know from personal experience, that is, from my own lived experience as a parent and carer to my son Eoghan, who has a disability, the huge challenges that just getting up in the morning, being able to get dressed, to toilet and to get out the front door with your clothes on is quite an achievement. Again, as outliers we are the only state in the European Union that does not have the legal obligation for the State or its agents to provide carer hours or assistant hours. We are also the only state in the European Union where there is no legal obligation on the State to provide therapies and supports. Recently there has been a legal requirement for an assessment of need but there is no legal requirement in Ireland for the State to then act on that assessment of need and provide the supports. Disabled citizens in Ireland are at a huge disadvantage and we need to recognise that disadvantage and that difference.

When it comes to supports for disabled artists I have received a number of representations including, for instance, from Ms Emilie Conway of the Disabled Artists and Disabled Academics, DADA, which is campaigning for cultural and social inclusion. That group makes the point that as disabled artists, if they get an award from the Arts Council to help to develop their artistic contribution, they can have their blind pension or their disability allowance abated. Ms Conway has made a number of representations to the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Heather Humphreys, as I have. The reply I get from the Minister and her Department is that they treat everybody the same and that is where the equality lies; that it would be unfair to give an extra allowance to an person or an artist with a disability as opposed to a so-called able-bodied person who is receiving a social welfare payment. The suggestion is it would be unfair to give the disabled person the extra bit of support.I appeal to the Minister to talk to her ministerial colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, and to tell her that equality is not about treating people the same; it is about recognising the difference and the extra challenges that disabled persons face in Ireland. It is to recognise that difference but scaffold it and provide support. The State will not go bankrupt if we give disabled persons that little bit of extra assistance. One is not going to get hundreds of thousands of people suddenly demanding this extra resource. It is a very simple and modest request that the Government supports disabled artists.

Again, I know from my own lived experience as a family that isolation is a terrible outcome from having a disability in Ireland. As an artist, one wants to participate in and contribute to the cultural life of the nation. We have a very strong tradition in Ireland because there has been a disproportionate contribution made to the arts by disabled artists such as James Joyce and other artists. In fact, there are too many to mention whose disability or difference has brought a unique perspective or unique creative dynamic to the artistic space and benefits everybody.

We have had a similar conversation about supports being given to disabled entrepreneurs and the same concerns arose. I mean that disabled entrepreneurs cannot avail of personal assistant hours to help them in the workplace. Again, the response that we got from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is that all entrepreneurs are treated the same. Like entrepreneurs and artists, disabled entrepreneurs and disabled artists make the same appeal that they cannot be treated the same, they must be treated differently and must be given the extra supports and help they need.

Since I came into this House in March of this year, I have not met one Deputy or Senator who does not want to help disabled citizens but there is a lacuna here. I appeal to the Minister present, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, and the officials in their respective Departments to put their heads together and sort out this anomaly and allow disabled artists to avail of extra supports. In certain cases, such support might bring disabled artists over the income threshold of €140 a week, but so what? Consider the challenges that disabled persons face to even get out the door in the morning with their clothes on. Moreover, as Ireland has signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we are supposed to proof all of our legislation and policies in the spirit of that convention. I know that the Minister is a person of absolute good faith and, therefore, I ask her to do whatever she can to assist us in that matter.