Vol. 497 No. 4
9 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will implement the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25002/98]
This is a repeat of an earlier question. What is important in this regard is that we have done a trawl of all Departments regarding the commission's recommendations and we have prepared a first preliminary report as a result of the replies from different Departments. We have also had a costing of the report done, as one of the difficulties was that it was not costed. The final report from the financial consultants charged with costing is due within a matter of days, and the action plan will be out in February.
The National Disability Authority and the disability support service announcement this year is the engine room of the commission's report and will make the difference for people with disabilities on the equality agenda. It is important that this is put on a statutory basis. We are working on the draft Bill for this, which has progressed well. The National Disability Authority (Establishment) Bill is on target for publication by the end of this session.
One of the most important decisions the Government has made regarding the commission's recommendations is the move from the health model to the equality model. Regarding training and employment, Irish people with disabilities used to be trained by the Department of Health, but following the recent announcement they will be trained by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, like everybody else. This is what Irish people with disabilities have been calling for, equality and mainstreaming. They want their training to be dealt with by the mainstream Government Department.
In addition, they do not want information for people with disabilities to be segregated. The National Rehabilitation Board provided a very good service, but it was segregated under the Department of Health. Part of the Government's mainstreaming announcement is that this should be joined with the National Social Services Board to form one new mainstream information board.
A lot has happened on the disability front in the past 12 months. There has been a move from the health aspect of disability to the equality aspect. That has been the major movement on the commission's report.
The commission report is now two years old and according to the Minister's statement we will not have an action plan until next February, so the report will be into its third year before we have a plan of action. Does the Minister of State agree that this is putting the cart before the horse? Any Minister would prefer to forge ahead with recommendations and would ensure that the plan of action is published before the budget? If we have the plan of action in February we may have to wait for the 1999 budget before it is put into action. A lot of paperwork is being done, but are those on the ground getting the services?
In that regard, is the Minister of State in the wrong Department? How can the Minister of State achieve equality when she is not in the Department that delivers services in that area? If she was in the Department delivering that service she could create equality, but she cannot do so without being able to deliver the service? In her opinion, is the Minister of State in the wrong Department?
Traditionally the Minister responsible for disability would have been in the Department of Health, but that is the old way of looking at this area. This Government has taken the route requested by the commission report, that is, to leave behind the old health model and to move towards the equality model. Those with disabilities are entitled to be dealt with by every Government Department and agency. When the Taoiseach appointed me to my position that was the clear role he gave me and the equality division of my Department. Ours is a cross-co-ordinating role across all Departments, so that a disability issue in education would be dealt with by the Minister for Education and Science, as has happened with classroom assistants and resource teachers.
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs recently made an announcement on aid with appliances, and each Minister is looking at how he or she can work on the disability issue. If we took the route the Deputy suggested we would be going back to the old health model rather than going forward on the equality model, where Irish people with or without a disability are entitled to be treated the same.
When the former Government tried to bring in a plan of action it faced the difficulty of having the Employment Equality Bill being thrown out by the Supreme Court. The new Government has had to deal with that Bill by publishing it and bringing it through the Oireachtas. It was passed in June 1998 and is an important part of the plan of action.
Although the plan of action and trawl of recommendations are to be completed by February 1999, a huge amount of work has been done in the meantime, including the costing of all recommendations. That had not been done when the report was published in November 1996, so we have had financial consultants costing the report. We have also put in place the major infrastructural changes that will form the engine room of the report, such as the National Disability Authority and the disability support service. The Employment Equality Act was also passed and signed into law. It is action every day in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform on disability, despite the fact that the plan of action will not be out until February 1999.
(Mayo): Does the Minister of State recall giving a commitment that the personal assistant independent living scheme would be expanded and put on a proper basis and that it would be taken away from the aegis of FÁS? A cost benefit analysis showed a 100 per cent return from this scheme, and there were no ifs, buts or maybes about the Government's commitment to putting this on a statutory basis, properly funded by central authority. What has happened to it?
This is a matter that is equally relevant to the Department of Health and Children, but I am happy to respond to the Deputy's question. Another report, Towards an Independent Future, published by the previous Government, is also relevant. It states we should deal with the issue of independent living in the short to medium term through funding through the health boards and in the long-term through the establishment of an independent living fund. The short to medium term period commenced in 1998 when the Minister, Deputy Cowen, allocated additional moneys to the eight health boards to ensure funding for independent living was spread across the geographical base of the country rather than centred in one area. Committees empowered to determine whether those additional moneys should be spent on respite care, residential care or on the important area of independent living were established in the eight health boards. Last May the Minister for Health and Children addressed the Health Board Association Conference in Wexford on the importance of ensuring that each health board should deal with the independent living issue as this is the first year of delivery on the report, Towards an Independent Future. We will have to analyse what happened across the eight health boards in the first year of delivering on this report in 1998 and what will happen in 1999 and then examine how we should address this issue. A key to addressing it is the allocation of additional moneys to the eight health boards and they have been asked to deliver on the area of independent living. That is what is important. Addressing this issue is, in many ways, about ensuring those who require a personal assistant are assigned one and it is about development in the area of independent living. We are working to the report, Towards an Independent Future.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
