Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is such an important matter. I would not like to say the word “issue” because people with disabilities are not the issue. It is society that is the issue, and previous Governments and the State are the issue.

I thank Senator Clonan for bringing this very important and long overdue Bill to the House. I am very passionate about people's rights and I am passionate about the rights of people with disabilities. I first went on the Joint Committee on Disability Matters two years ago and I learned that people are not just disabled because of their impairment or because of an illness, but it is society and the structures within society that disable people. We are all different. Every single person everywhere is different and we have the right to be different, but we all have equal value in the world and we should be treated with respect and dignity. From my reading of the Bill, which I co-signed along with the other Senators in the Civil Engagement Group, all that people with disabilities and their families are looking for is minimal rights to have access to services. A few weeks ago, one of my friends said to me that it is not just about the bricks and mortar; it is about that wraparound and that support of intervention to protect people.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities calls on us to protect the dignity and rights of people with disabilities. This Bill is a good step in the right direction, although it is not going to fix all the inequalities that people with disabilities suffer, including children. Senator Clonan said something in his contribution that really struck me, which is that more than 2,000 young adults are in nursing homes. Shame on this State. We had the mother and baby homes, the institutions for women who had children outside marriage years ago. We are doing the same now to 2,000 young adults who do not have that quality of life, and who have no rights and no say in their own life. Just because people have a disability does not mean they should be treated worse within society. My mother would always say that the truth kills. Unfortunately, and this is not directed at the Minister of State personally, it hurts very much that our State has continued to fail people with disabilities.

I remember that in my community, if someone had a child with a disability, it came with a stigma and people would have been embarrassed and tried to hide for years that their child had a disability. Now we are more accepting. We accept that people do not need to be the same and that we have to recognise each other’s differences, embrace that and meet people where they are at. However, we are failing our children if they have to wait up to two or three years for physiotherapy, for access to services and to have their basic human rights and equality met.

I was privileged to work with the Minister of State in recent years and I know she is very passionate in what she does. I always say to myself to stay true to my values and my principles. I know the Minister she is the type of person who will stay true to her values and principles. She spoke out around the HSE. She can turn this around and she still has a little time to turn it around. She should vote with us today. This Bill is about waiting times. It is about children who have to wait in our system for two or three years and who will probably end up as adults in a nursing home. Today, the Minister of State has the opportunity to stay with her own principles and values and not hold off another year. When we talk about another year, we are talking about thousands of children in our society who are not getting timely access to services.

Again, it comes back to that basic point of access. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters understands that we have a long way to go before we have equal access for people with disabilities. This Bill is not going to fix that but it is there as a guide. If we do anything today, let us allow people with disabilities, in particular children, and their families, to know this. Nearly every day, I wake up and know I am so privileged that my children are full of health and that I am not in a system where I am fighting all the time. In fact, I am fighting at a different level but not as a mother of a child with a disability. That is so tough. I see it all of the time with members of the Traveller community and people from other ethnic minority groups with regard to getting access to services. I urge the Minister of State and my colleagues in the House to do the right thing today. Let us pass this Bill collectively. I like to say that this House is much more approachable and has much more empathy than the Dáil, to be blunt, so I would like to see that acted on today. I again thank Senator Clonan for bringing the Bill forward. The Civil Engagement Group is delighted to stand with him.