Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today. I welcome that the national human rights strategy for disability focuses heavily on the point of independence for people with disabilities as well as the need for them to choose their own supports and care plans. However, like many disability advocates, I feel let down by the lack of targeted, tangible long-term initiatives. I also express my disappointment that representatives such as my colleagues Senator Clonan and Deputy Ardagh, whose children have direct lived experience with disability, were not invited to the launch of this strategy.

The strategy notes the importance of early intervention but children who eventually get an assessment of need are then left waiting indefinitely for support from psychologists or speech and language therapists. That is shocking. Some of the people who have come to me have been waiting maybe two or three years. The strategy notes that we currently have a shortage of educational psychologists and are losing an average of 12 annually. Meanwhile, our doctoral programmes produce just 14 graduates a year. There simply are not people there for the NEPS to recruit. The worst part is I know several people who have had to leave the country because there were not enough assistant psychologist posts available for training. These people are highly educated and have tried to come back to work within the HSE but have been met with bureaucracy and red tape. I encourage the Minister of State to look into this and streamline the process as quickly as she can to address the shortage.

In Cavan, we are working with a number of people who live in their own homes but rely heavily on PAs. They need increased support and want to move into assisted living. I referenced before the assisted living facility in Donegal as a fantastic example of what can be achieved. It should be replicated around the country. The strategy rightly talks about the need for people with disabilities to choose their own care but that cannot happen when we do not have the facilities to place or to allow the option for them to choose. Terms like "advanced" and "established" are far too frequent in the document, as well as the emphasis on reviews and analysis.We have learned recently that the last Government spent €80 million on reviews and analysis. Disability advocates and campaign groups are blue in the face telling representatives what exactly they need to live independently and what supports are lacking. Acknowledgement is crucial but it is just the first step. The Department has referred to this as a live document, so I would love to see the addition of definite commitments and timelines for housing provision, employment opportunities, personalised budgets and how the Government is addressing staffing shortages for therapies.