Vol. 482 No. 3
281 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the three priority areas for action in his Department for 1998, in view of the Government's commitment in An Action Programme for the Millennium, page 18, People with Disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17921/97]
The commitments contained in page 18 of the Action Programme for the Millennium referred to by the Deputy relate to the implementation of the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and, specifically, for the overhaul of the means by which the State supports the incomes of people with disabilities. There are a number of other commitments contained in the programme relating to people with disabilities for which I have responsibility, including commitments to progressively relax the qualifying criteria for the carer's allowance to ensure that more carers can get the benefit and that the value of the carer's allowance will be increased in real terms. In addition, Partnership 2000 contains a commitment that the minimum rates of payment recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare will be implemented by 1999.
The Government is committed to making progress on all of the commitments outlined above, and I am currently examining these in the context of formulating proposals for inclusion in the 1998 budget.
Of the 402 recommendations contained in the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, 60 are relevant to my Department. The main recommendations of relevance are as follows:
(1) the establishment of a non-means tested payment to compensate for loss of income due to an incapacity for full-time work, or work to full potential to be known as a "Disability Pension". This payment would replace the existing disability allowance. Invalidity pension and blind person's pension and would be extended to cover people with disabilities who are living in part-time residential settings;
(2) the achievement of the payment rates recommended by the Commission on Social Welfare as a matter of priority;
(3) changes in the financial supports available to carers, including an extension of the carer's allowance on a means-tested basis to all carers and payment of higher rates to people caring for more than one person; and
(4) the transfer of administration of the domiciliary care allowance and motorised transport grants schemes from the health boards to the Department of Social Welfare.
Significant steps have already been taken towards improving the position of people with disabilities. For instance, the Commission found that there was no unified system of State income support for people with disabilities, with the provision of income support being fragmented and lacking co-ordination. However, the take-over of the disabled person's maintenance allowance by my Department in October 1996 means that all of the main weekly income support payments for people with disabilities are now provided for by a single Department. All of these income support payments have a statutory basis and, accordingly, they all apply national standards and provide a legal entitlement to payment where the claimant fulfils the relevant conditions.
This year's Social Welfare Act provided for the introduction of a new sickness allowance scheme for people who are incapable of work and not entitled to disability benefit or not permanently incapacitated. Taken together, these two measures mean that there is in place a comprehensive system of income support for people who are sick and people with disabilities.
Furthermore, this year's Social Welfare Act provided for the introduction of a comprehensive package of measures to further assist people with disabilities, including as follows:
