Much progress has been made in the provision of comprehensive mental handicap services in the Eastern Health Board. The Minister of State has allocated additional moneys this year. I understand 320 extra residential places will be provided as well as 80 respite and 200 day places. I welcome this.
National Disability Authority Bill, 1998 [ Seanad ] : Second Stage (Resumed).
Question again proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
As a start.
It is a good start.
Much remains to be done.
It far exceeds anything provided previously. Earlier in the year the Deputy's party sought an additional £21 million for people with disabilities. A total of £24 million has been allocated for persons with a learning disability and £12.4 million for persons with a physical disability giving a total of £36.4 million. It is important to say that this £36.4 million is additional money allocated on top of all of the other moneys which are being spent. If one wants to make comparisons, I will be happy to do so.
I was not making a political point. We should never make political points on this issue.
I accept that.
I am pleased that the Eastern Health Board is involved in the provision of community therapy, income support schemes and various community services programmes for people with a physical and sensory disability; that the community-based services are being expanded; and that there is a focus on one particularly area which I am pursuing, that is speech and language therapy, where I understand the difficulties arise from the availability of professional support staff required in that area. The other area is occupational therapy and physiotherapy. There are problems in the community and the Minister is aware of them. It is not simply a case of being able to throw money at them but that we should be putting in place the appropriate measures required to ensure we will be able to provide as soon as possible the necessary professional staff which are identified as required currently and downstream in the services because it is impinging on the other work which we are achieving in the community.
I particularly welcome the worthy and merited focus on respite care. It is important to ensure that the necessary respite, whether it be a week or fortnight in the year or every weekend, be provided to those who are able to accommodate people with a disability and require a break.
In the area of residential accommodation, I welcome the fact that we are moving positively in the area of independent living units and high support residential facilities. I am proud of the fact that, as chairman of the Eastern Health Board, I opened a number of high support residential facilities. Many people would say that people support these facilities when they are not in their own back yard. I am pleased to say that I live on St. Lawrence Road and I opened an extensive high support hostel there for people with a disability. It has proved to be a success to date. The cutting of a tape or opening of a door does not integrate people in society, however, and I am not sure whether we have tapped this success to achieve what is really necessary to ensure appropriate integration of people in society. Having personal first-hand experience of this, I know there is a great deal more to be achieved.
The services being provided by the Eastern Health Board for persons with a physical and sensory disability are designed to enhance the principle of health and social gain set down in the national health strategy. Services are intended to facilitate the fullest possible participation by the client in social, cultural, educational and vocational activities and are in keeping with the Eastern Health Board's general policy of ensuring that, as far as possible, clients are assisted to live with comfort, dignity and independence within their community and an appropriate residential setting is provided where a community setting is suitable.
There are a couple of issues on which I want to touch briefly. Recently there was coverage of Deputy Mitchell's case regarding a blind individual who tried to benefit under the Disabled Drivers (Tax Concession) Regulations. If anybody wants to know the boxes in the first primary medical certificate which must be ticked off by the area medical health officer, both Minister Mary Wallace and I know them because we raised this issue at the parliamentary party and with the Minister for Finance. It is a simple matter. The Revenue Commissioners need to agree that an additional box be put in place so that the primary certificates required to benefit under the Disabled Drivers (Tax Concession) Regulations can be ticked by the medical officer and the criteria in the other boxes need not be met. Although I do not know the case, I gather that the particular individual is blind but has the use of his limbs. Those of us who are familiar with the certificates will clearly acknowledge that he, like many others, should be able to avail of this scheme. I am frustrated when I come across a stroke victim who has lost the power of one side of the body and is unable to avail of the scheme.
I conclude by congratulating some organisations which are active in my community, in particular the Irish Wheelchair Association and the Central Remedial Clinic. I pay tribute to Pat and Nuala Matthews of the Irish Society for Autism. Much good work would not have been carried out by the statutory authorities without the drive and force of people like Pat and Nuala Matthews, Lady Valerie Goulding of the Central Remedial Clinic and the personnel behind the Irish Wheelchair Association. I wish everybody in the NDA, which will be the engine room and power house of people with disabilities, every success in the future.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Ó Caoláin and Higgins.
This Bill gives the impression that the Government is tackling the problem of disability. While I welcome the Bill in many respects, successive Governments have fallen far short of granting full rights of participation in society to those with a disability.
Discrimination continues and it can be seen even here in Leinster House. I want to look at the simple yet fundamental problem of access. Recently a group of ten guests of mine from all over the country who are wheelchair bound were denied the simple pleasures of a Dáil tour. They were confined to the atrium and the Gallery and could not gain access to the Seanad Chamber, the Ceann Comhairle's office and the nice view of Leinster Lawn. To their great credit, the ushers explained the history of Leinster House to them as they gazed up at the pictures of Michael Collins and Cathal Brugha and the 1916 Proclamation. I wondered was this the sort of Republic for which Collins and Brugha would have wished because we still have real inequality when it comes to those who suffer from disabilities.
Surely we should be leading by example. It is shameful that Leinster House, the seat of Government, is not fully wheelchair accessible. I readily understand the real anger of those in the Forum of People with Disabilities at the lack of action by successive Governments on this important issue.
Section M of the building regulations is not being enforced. This section requires that all new buildings since 1991 be accessible to those with disabilities. Eight years on, nothing much has happened. This statutory regulation is being ignored by the builders, who are becoming very rich during the Celtic tiger boom, while those suffering from a disability are being ignored. Unfortunately, the Government is sitting back and allowing this to happen. This problem must be urgently addressed and I would like the Minister to refer to it in her reply. Ultimately it is a problem for the Department of the Environment and Local Government to address.
The problem is not just about access to buildings or external venues like parks and beaches. Access to beaches is a problem that could be solved quickly. It just requires the political will. Access is also about human rights because if people with disabilities do not have access they are being denied the fundamental rights all of us cherish and take for granted – the right to travel freely, the right to health care, housing, education and proper communications, the right to benefit from the information society and the right to express one's sexuality.
When we deny access – and studies have been carried out on this – people may become impoverished. A study carried out by the Forum of People with Disabilities found that those who suffer from disabilities also experience financial difficulties. That is an issue about which all of us in this House should be concerned.
One statistic highlighted in that study is that in approximately 45 per cent of households headed by a person with a disability, income is only half of the average household income. That is a startling indictment of the way this House has tackled this serious problem. I agree with Deputy Barnes that we are not trying to make political points. This issue involves all of us and we need to reach a consensus on it.
On the question of the financial rights of those with a disability, the "not for profit business association" was established comprising 135,000 citizens from various umbrella organisations such as the National Training and Development Institute, Rehab, Care, etc. The Minister for Finance should recognise the major role that association can play in the development of our economy.
While I welcome many aspects of the Bill we must go much further on this important issue.
I welcome the Bill and the establishment of the National Disability Authority. This is an important milestone on the journey to full equality for the estimated 10 per cent of our population who have a disability.
The guiding principles in the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities were equality, maximising participation, enabling independence and choice through a social model of disability.
Recently, a person with a disability had to engage in a public protest in Dublin to highlight the failure of Bus Átha Cliath to provide accessible buses in its new fleet. The same story can be told throughout the country. One of the central tasks of the new authority, therefore, must be to ensure, through enforcement of existing legislation and recommending further legislation, that all public places including Government, local authority, commercial and other premises are fully accessible to people with disabilities.
Building regulations were mentioned. This is an important point. How many of the numerous new buildings going up around the country in this current economic boom are fully accessible to the disabled? The authority must ensure that all sectors of our society carry out their own disability audits so that the principle of equality is firmly established not only in people's minds but in every practical way possible.
I share the concern of other speakers that the legislation as framed is not sufficiently strong. We need a National Disability Authority that is truly dynamic and which has the clout to deliver for all those with disabilities. It must have the ability to root out all the old attitudes and practices whereby those with disabilities have been discriminated against and, if not the victims of overt discrimination, have been patronised and undervalued.
It is appropriate that I acknowledge the tremendous contribution of countless thousands of people who, through their commitment, dedication and energy have built up vibrant voluntary sector support groups covering all aspects of disability. There is a great debt of gratitude due these good people for their labours.
I welcome the Bill and will support amendments which strengthen it. I look forward to seeing our fellow citizens with disabilities taking their rightful place in the centre of life.
(Dublin West): I welcome the idea of the National Disability Authority which will be involved in the provision of a service and advise on policy for people with disabilities. I have serious reservations, however, about proceeding with the Bill before the Bill providing for the setting up of Comhairle is published and debated in the Dáil.
The National Rehabilitation Board, which has played a major role in providing services to people with disabilities, is being stood down and its functions transferred to a range of other bodies including the National Social Services Board. The National Disability Authority is another feature of that. A more integrated approach to enable a better debate on this issue should have been taken. The new provisions in these Bills should have been published at the same time as this Bill so that we could have an overall view of what was being proposed in regard to services for people with disabilities. That would have been a more preferable way to proceed.
How much real consultation took place between the Minister and individuals and organisations representing people with disabilities on what is a major restructuring of the services for people with disabilities? What is the nature of the consultations that have taken place in this regard? Are the organisations representing people with disabilities fully satisfied with the way matters are being progressed?
Debate adjourned.