Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

During the pandemic, the Minister’s Department showed how quickly it can respond with compassion and move the country forward at a time of crisis. Senator Clonan came here with lived experience in disability. On the other side of the House, Senator McGreehan has a major interest in disability issues and has often discussed her concerns with me.

There is a Green Paper on long-term disability on the table. There are difficulties with it and they need to be examined. We need to establish, first and foremost, the Green Paper itself. Is it a consultation paper that outlines one possible approach to achieving the aim of higher payments and better employment supports or could it be a sleight of hand purely to move something in that would ultimately work to the detriment of disabled people? I see the Minister shaking her head and I believe she is concerned about this area.

Disabled people have been at the bottom of the scale in this country for an awful long time. Is the Green Paper part of a plan or is it a draft proposal? Perhaps the Minister can clear that up when she speaks. Kitty Holland wrote in The Irish Times that this proposal is intended to radically overhaul payments for people with disabilities. It always sort of worries me when I hear statements like that. Will it radically overhaul them? The disability allowance is a paltry sum for people who have huge issues. The payment of €220 per week is to be replaced by a slightly increased personal support payment.

I have a serious problem with the medical assessment component, which is critical. The Government cannot get around to the fact that it will spend money that could be used to provide people with supports. I had to be outside while Senator Clonan was speaking but I think the problem is that it is almost impossible to get medical assessed with the resources available at the moment. We are putting a policy in place that it will not be possible to implement because we are not able to carry out the assessments.

We have been told that benefits will not be reduced. However, people may be required to work if they land in tier 2 or tier 3.If they cannot work, there is a possibility they will lose benefits. We need reassurances about that. We need to know that no one will finish up worse off as a result of this. It happened in the UK and it led to people working in places they were not able for or were not suited to. The Irish version will have an appeals process - the Government is to be complimented on that - but how effective will it be? That is important. We are not claiming the policy here will be identical to the one introduced in the UK by the Conservative Party. However, the same incentives for a similar disaster are there. This policy can only be successful if it determines that people are fit for work. If people do not comply with the Department, they could be struck off and lose their benefits. We need reassurances about that. Otherwise there is no point in spending large sums of money on trying to assess people.

If people have no choice but to opt into a programme for work benefits, they will be less likely to organise and demand better pay and conditions that would be available to non-disabled workers. The voices of people who belong to a small minority group are lessened all the time. We should be deeply concerned about that.

A Government in the future can engage in distortions as much as it likes, but we cannot get away from the fact that little interest has been shown in people with disabilities. My friend and colleague, Senator Clonan, has the lived experience. He knows exactly what goes on in the system. The budget focused heavily on one-off payments. It could have been used to introduce long-term sustainable change that would be more beneficial to those who are classified as disabled. My colleague, Senator Maria Byrne, mentioned people with epilepsy. I have seen epilepsy up close. I have seen the damage it does to one's freedom to move around the country and such things. I am here to support Senator Clonan. It is a pity a counter-motion has been tabled. It would have been nice if this motion was agreed to. There are lessons for all of us in that. I hope the Minister will do the right thing.