Is that agreed? Agreed.
Private Members' Business. - Carers for People with Disability: Motion.
The following motion was moved by Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on Tuesday, November 16 1999:
"That Dáil Éireann:
–noting that there are an estimated 100,000 carers who provide the bulk of care for people with severe disabilities, those who are mentally ill, those suffering from chronic illnesses or those who are in need of care through age or infirmity, most of whom are in receipt of no financial assistance and whose role is not recognised, acknowledged or supported by the State;
–conscious of the fact that an estimated 140,000 people with physical and sensory disability have yet to achieve full, social,economic and educational integration as equal, independent and participative members within the general community;
–aware from Government-commissioned reports that more than 1,000 people with intellectual disability live in completely inappropriate surroundings and that thousands more are on waiting lists for essential services, such as residential and respite care;
–believing that there is an urgent need to address the legitimate demands of people with a disability, their families, carers and advocates for a range of appropriate services and supports;
–knowing that the present healthy state of the economy provides an unpre cedented opportunity to vindicate the rights of and radically improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, the elderly, the chronically ill and for their carers and families; and
–recognising the justifiable anger and disappointment of carers, people with disabilities, their families and advocates because of the failure of the Government to comprehensively provide for their documented needs and entitlements which has led, for the second successive year, to their public protest at the gates of Leinster House,
calls on the Government to put in place a comprehensive financial package in the millennium budget to fund the necessary expansion of both community-based and residential care facilities, services and requirements and, in particular, to provide for:
–full implementation, by the end of 2000, of the recommendations contained in the report ‘Towards an Independent Future';
–the elimination of waiting lists for respite, residential and day care and for essential aids and appliances;
–the expansion of the personal assistance service to allow for a substantial increase in the number of adequately paid and trained personal assistants;
–a radical overhaul of financial supports to carers and people with disabilities, including an increase in the carer's allowance to not less than £100 per week and a relaxation of the present stringent means test requirements, which addresses the need for a non-means-tested cost-of-care allowance and cost-of-disability allowance;
–the extension of the incapacitated persons' tax allowance;
–the payment of domiciliary care allowance from date of definite diagnosis rather than from two years of age, as at present;
–the establishment of home-help services as a core health service provided as a statutory entitlement with an increased number of adequately paid and trained personnel;
–a substantial increase in the number of public health nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers and other paramedical services,
and demands that the Government produce a fully-costed programme to achieve these objectives and to undertake to fulfil the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities within a specified timeframe."
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following:
"Dáil Éireann recognises the need for the further development of services to people with disabilities, their families and carers and approves both the Government's commitment to put in place an enhanced level of service provision in line with the commitments outlined in the Programme for Government and Partnership 2000 and the actions taken by the Government to date in meeting these commitments, which include the provision of additional funding of £91.662 million, the putting in place of arrangements to meet the educational needs of children with special needs and the enhancement of the Carers' Allowance.".
–(Minister for Health and Children)
Ms O'Sullivan: I wish to share my time with Deputy Penrose.
It is appalling that people with disabilities must campaign outside this House to obtain the basic rights and facilities they need to fully participate in society. In this era of the Celtic tiger it should not be accepted that such people must protest outside here. All citizens should have basic rights for which funding is automatically provided. People who seek basic rights such as getting up in the morning, having appropriate aids and appliances and going to work should not have to jockey with other lobby groups prior to the budget.
People with disabilities should have the necessary resources to take part in the life of their communities and that should be the basis for any decent society. Our economy is such that services of the highest standard should be provided to these people. Ireland no longer has a developing economy and this should be recognised by fulfilling the basic needs of people with disabilities, those suffering from long-term illness and those who provide back up services to them. My colleague, Deputy Penrose, will deal with the carer's issue while I will concentrate on people with disabilities. However, the two issues are interwoven and it is important that both are addressed.
Funds and information on what exactly was needed to solve the problem for this group of people may have been in short supply in the past but that is no longer the case. We are aware of what is required to bring these, our fellow citizens, a quality of life which is their entitlement. They should not have to lobby year after year and become part of the loudest voice syndrome to get the attention of the Minister for Finance. A fundamental change of approach is needed which separates what is essential in an egalitarian society and provides for it without any need for people to apply pressure. It is our duty, as legislators, to make sure that happens.
Waiting lists for respite, residential and day care, essential aids and appliances, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, home helps and other support services need to be eliminated. No person should be left in a position whereby he or she cannot get out of bed, have breakfast, wash, go to school, training or work because he or she does not have the appropriate personal assistance that is required and those who supply these services should not be paid less than the proposed minimum wage. Recently I was in the Irish Wheelchair Association centre in Limerick and I met a woman who is paid £3 per hour to provide essential personal assistance to people who are wheelchair-bound. She not only accepts this abysmal wage but puts in extra hours because she is so outraged. We should share that outrage and use it to bring about fundamental changes in the provision of resources to meet basic needs.
The demands in the pre-budget submissions of the Irish Wheelchair Association, the Centre for Independent Living, the Carers Association, the National Association of Mental Handicap in Ireland and various other groups representing people with disabilities do not come from a wish list to which no rationale has been applied. Their demands are based on the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and from the experience of such people. Their basic needs must be satisfied. In particular, I call on the Minister to provide personal assistance for those who need it.
This week the Limerick Centre for Independent Living closed because its funds ran out. I am calling for an urgent response to this crisis, which is an example of the need to provide a secure independent living fund, which has been proposed in the pre-budget submissions of a number of organisations. Disabled citizens should have basic rights similar to the rest of us in society and they must be provided for in the budget given that money is available.
I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to this important debate and I unequivocally support the thrust of the motion. I strongly call for a fair deal for the carers who save the State hundreds of millions of pounds annually in nursing home fees and subvention. Every Member is aware of the extent of the sacrifice which many carers make in terms of their own careers and ambitions in order to attend to the needs of sick or dependent loved ones. However, it cannot be taken for granted anymore. The State must recognise and take account of the huge savings that accrue to the health budget because family members are prepared to provide full-time care for their elders. These savings should be calculated and channelled back into resources and support for carers.
Everything that carers seek appears to the Carers Association to be eventually, if at all, grudgingly conceded. The Government often must be dragged screaming to agree to reasonable sugges tions that would improve the lot of carers but most concessions in the recent past were meagre in anybody's objective view.
It was much more than the Labour Party provided.
The Deputy should not worry about that. I ask the Minister to ensure that he obtains a reasonable share of the forthcoming budget. The maximum level of the carer's allowance is only £76.50 and it is rigorously means tested. There are approximately 100,000 carers in Ireland who do an important job for society, yet only 15,000 of those who look after elderly family members at home qualify for the allowance and one seventh do not even qualify for the full measly allowance.
It costs between £400 and £500 per week to care for an elderly person in a nursing home. It would be better to ensure that people care for their parents or other relatives in their own home environment, which would be preferable from all points of view, but the only way to ensure that this happens is to remove the means test which was introduced with the sole motive of reducing the number eligible to receive the carer's allowance. I am delighted that our party finance spokesperson, Deputy McDowell, called for the abolition of the means test last week. In this time of plenty, it is the least that can be done because then those who do the important job of caring for an elderly relative suffering from Alzheimer's disease or senile dementia will qualify for the allowance without being subject to a niggardly, begrudging means test.
Approximately 80% of carers are women, many of whom are married. They are treated as dependants of their husbands when they are means tested. This is an outdated concept and is insulting to women. It treats them as non-persons. They are treated as dependants in many aspects of the social welfare code. It is time to stop this nonsense. They should be treated as individuals in their own right and not be subject to their husband's status in terms of income. Why is a social assistance payment classified as income and, therefore, subject to income tax? A carer must virtually work around the clock every day in order to receive £76.50.
I was glad the Minister made a positive change in regard to disregarding the allowance in medical card reviews and I hope that all health boards take note. However, very often if one is in receipt of the allowance, one's rent allowance or supplementary welfare allowance for special diets and eating is stopped because they are considered as income by the health board. These anomalies should be rectified immediately given the money that is available. The Carers Association recently raised an issue, in which I am sure the Minister of State, who is a medical doctor, would be interested, regarding medical assessors in the Department who appear to insist that carers must be available 24 hours a day every day. They require something which is virtually impossible to provide. Why do they often decide to cut off the carer's allowance despite the provision of the cer tification of physician by the family doctor? Imagine saying to the carers who work hard for so little that they are not entitled to this allowance. The method of assessment should be reformed immediately.
I call Deputy Moloney. I understand the Deputy is sharing time with Deputies O'Flynn, McGuinness, Keaveney and Michael Kitt.
That is correct. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion. In recent weeks I have had the opportunity, like my constituency colleagues, to hear the case being made by people from the Centre for Independent Living in Laois and Offaly and from the Carers' Association. Each year many groups make representations and submissions to Government and particularly in the lead up to the budget. This year, our best year of economic growth, many voluntary groups have come together to promote the need for increased State funding for people with disabilities and for those who care for them on a daily basis. In the present economic climate there is a belief that we must do more to improve the lot of people with disabilities and their carers.
The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Cowen, also believes this. Last night in the House he confirmed that the Government fully supports the principle that people with disabilities are entitled to all the rights and privileges which go with citizenship and that all obstacles that prevent their enjoyment of such rights should be removed. The Government's commitment to developing services for people with disabilities has been demonstrated by the investment of more than £91 million over the past two and half years. Some £21.5 million has already been identified for the services in the Estimates for 2000 with further additional funding in the forthcoming budget. We all recognise that more must be done.
One practical way to ensure people with disabilities enjoy all rights and privileges is to provide adequate funding to health boards to support the case made by the Centre for Independent Living. The centre seeks to enable people with disabilities to enhance their quality of life, to achieve independent living and participate in social and economic life. Adequate State support for independent living would go a long way towards helping those with disabilities to participate fully in all of life's appointments. Also the case made on behalf of carers is a practical one. In recent weeks I have listened to the case made by them. I recognise their commitment and the growing feeling that the work of the carer is not fully recognised. I urge the Minister, before the budget, to relax the means test. The main issue discussed at the meeting in Laois was the need to relax that test. That only 1,400 out of 14,000 carers are in receipt of the full allowance shows the need for an immediate review. We should be mindful that carers save the State by keeping people out of institutional care.
I welcome the move towards a partnership between the voluntary and the statutory sectors, a point made by the Minister last night. For too long we left the provision of services for people with disabilities in the hands of voluntary groups. The 1990s saw some change in this regard by way of a gradual involvement by the State in providing services. I welcome the recommendation in the report of the review group on health and personal social services for people with physical and sensory disabilities for the establishment in each health board of a co-ordinating committee for physical and sensory disability services. The functions of the committees include the planning and co-ordination of the services and advising the health boards on priorities for the allocation of funding available for the development of services. As a member of the health board I am pleased to note that such committees are in place.
In his contribution last night, the Minister showed his understanding of the problems in this area and his commitment and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, has been demonstrated over the past year. It is important to realise that dealing with the area of disabilities is not just about throwing money at it. It is important to identify the real needs. This is being taken on board with the establishment of the National Disability Authority. Relatively small amounts can make a huge difference. I support the Minister's commitment, and that of the Government, in recognising the need to provide funding to ensure people with disabilities have all the facilities to enable them become involved in ordinary life. I hope that in the next two weeks the case made by Government backbenchers and Opposition Deputies will be taken on board to recognise that the Celtic tiger has reason to roam in the area of people with disabilities. I support the Minister's position on the matter.
I am pleased to speak in support of the Minister's approach to this motion. I cannot overstate the importance of the carer in the Ireland of today. We are all basking in the glow of a boom economy with its attendant social welfare and health improvements. One of the spin-offs from these benefits is that more people are living longer and they will need to be cared for as they age.
The Government in its programme, An Action Programme for the Millennium, has established certain priorities regarding the care of older people and those with disabilities. It encourages the care of elderly and disabled people within their own communities. It aims to provide the best of hospital and residential care for those who cannot eventually be cared for in their own homes. It wishes to ensure that all health and social services are responsive to the particular needs of those people. It is committed to ensuring, when at all possible, that the elderly and disabled are assisted to achieve the concept of independent living. It intends to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy and to overhaul the relevant income support systems. The Government will provide adequate resources for national respite care. We have already laid down the following specific key priorities for carers: an increase in the value of the carer's allowance in real terms, a new tax allowance for those who care for older and disabled people and a relaxation in the qualifying criteria. Only last week we spoke about that again at the parliamentary party meeting and, it is to be hoped, something will be done about it in the budget.
Those being cared for should be enabled to maintain their personal dignity and their living standards in their own homes. There have been many improvements in the field of caring in the short time since the Government took office. Almost £39 million has been provided since 1997. A package worth £16 million was allocated to improving the lot of carers in the 1998 budget and the means test was amended to allow carers an additional £75 in their income allowance. Certain carers can avail of free travel passes; the free telephone allowance is extended to all in receipt of the carer's allowance; a payment of £200 per annum to carers as a contribution towards respite care has also been awarded and residency conditions have been relaxed as have the full time care and attention stipulations. This will allow carers to work part time for up to ten hours per week. Another aspect of caring that is formally protected under new regulations guarantees the preservation of carers' social insurance records when they move directly to caring from insurable employment. This, and the measures already listed, compare more than favourably with the legislative performance of some of the signatories of the motion while they were in office. They enacted little that would show they cared for the carers.
The State's role in community care is one of support and encouragement. This is public policy since 1968 when it was outlined in a policy document entitled, Care of the Aged. The objective of this report embodied the concept of keeping older people in their own homes. It addressed the need for adequate support for those requiring institutional care and laid strong emphasis on the need for supporting carers in the area of the great emotional and physical stress caused by long-term caring.
There are family carers who undertake the responsibility of caring for children with physical and serious disabilities. They are sometimes newly married couples who can handle the physical care and needs of a young disabled child. A decade down the line the carers face a different scenario. Their cares are ten years older and they themselves have aged. They face an increasingly difficult situation as their children grow older, bigger and heavier. I know an elderly lady in my constituency who cares for a disabled son in his late forties who is over 15 stone in weight. She has to tend to his every need. When there is no one else to help, she has to lift him in and out of the bath. This scene is repeated on a wide scale throughout the country.
The work of a carer is one of selfless dedication. It deserves to be recognised. This view is shared by all Members of the House. Evidence of concern on this side of the Chamber can be seen in the review of the carer's allowance issued in October 1998. It recognises the central role played by carers in "creating a community of caring". It emphasises the need to provide practical help to the carer in the many facets of the carer's duties, such as domestic help, home adaptation appliances, incontinence services and transport. It outlines their rights to a back-up service from public health nurses, day care centres and home helpers.
It is vitally important that carers have an input into planning and care policies as they are the ones with the practical knowledge and the on-the-job experience. Let it be understood that the Government is committed to ensuring that carers will continue to be given every possible recognition and to be shown our deep appreciation. The current improvements in the field of care speak for themselves. I ask the House to fully support the Minister and the amendment to the motion.
At the outset I acknowledge the increased funding directed over the past two and a half years to the overall area of disability. It must be accepted as a move in the right direction. However, much more needs to be done and much more finance from the Government is needed to make things happen.
In the forthcoming budget I hope all spending in this area will be substantially increased, but I also hope the Government will ensure we get value for money from every health board and that it insists each board is more open and works with the various agencies representing the disability sector to achieve a much more customer focused response. The clearing house concept would help to deal with many of these issues and should be adopted by every board.
Supporting the personal development of each disabled person and ensuring they are given every opportunity to take their place in society, play a full role and improve their quality of life to the best possible level must be the goal of any caring society. Indeed, the measure of a mature society is how well it looks after its most vulnerable members. We have some way to make up in this regard and I do not believe we can overspend in trying to achieve this.
The bureaucracy of the health boards also needs to be examined as too much money is spent on its way down to county and local community levels. Projects need to be carefully monitored and health boards need to be much more open in terms of consultation and proactive in how they interact with local groups, such as the Irish Wheelchair Association. In some cases the boards behave in a protective and defensive manner when discussing funding projects, which are mainly driven by the sector representing the disabilities.
Co-ordinating committees are in place in some areas, but in some cases there is no real partnership approach from the health boards. A ministerial review of the operation of co-ordinating committees needs to be undertaken as a matter of urgency. There is an argument in favour of handing the service provided by some community care activities to the county councils, in a similar manner to the model operating in the UK, because the councils deal with social gains and people's lives on a daily basis and are much closer to the problems.
Community employment schemes have been good to services such as personal assistants, home help and home care attendants. They could play a far more significant role in the pure personal assistant scheme. I understand that, at a national level, over 400 CE workers participate in these schemes. There is a need to bring more permanency into their positions and to extend the schemes to more disabled people so that they can enjoy a fuller life and a quality of life hitherto denied to them.
Given the review of the CE schemes and the cost of training these workers, I suggest a permanent squad of skilled personal assistants, supported through the CE schemes but ring-fenced. It should be established and expanded as soon as possible. The positive impact these schemes are having on the lives of people is too great to ignore.
Resource and respite centres have proven to be a huge success but need to be expanded. A clear indication needs to be given them on the question of how their future funding will apply. They are now part and parcel of local community life and a lifeline to the disabled and many other sectors. The figures from the Irish Wheelchair Association show that to resource these services the following extra finance is needed: day resources, £4 million; intensive respite, £3.7 million and care attendant and personal assistants, £8.1 million.
I am appalled to learn that the South-Eastern Health Board has not put in place the home care attendance scheme for which it received funding in the middle of this year. This inaction would appear to be typical of many health boards who, in fairness to them, are snowed under with new work, new concepts and new ways but have inadequate staff. I appeal to the board to deliver this scheme at the earliest possible date and to take account of the huge demand that exists in the local and regional community for such a scheme.
The area of taxation for those with disablement lucky enough to be employed should be reviewed to ensure that they are not penalised to such an extent that they lose their benefits. The passport for life concept would get over this. We should encourage rather than take from these people.
VAT is also an issue. The Irish Wheelchair Association residential, respite and resource centre in Kilkenny city cost £960,000. The Department gave a grant of £520,000 and the South-Eastern Health Board grant was £220,000. This left a shortfall of £220,000 to be collected by the association. The VAT content of the project was £106,666, an enormous sum. To give £520,000 and take back £106,666 is surely not the proper way to deal with such a project, which is driven at local community level. There must be a way around this problem. I appeal to the Minister to examine the finer points of the questions I have raised.
I am very interested in this issue and am delighted Members have been given this brief opportunity to contribute to what is happening and what should be happening. I congratulate the Minster for Health and Children, the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Mary Wallace, and other Ministers for their interest in addressing the needs of what is a very vulnerable and often neglected and ignored section of our community. While acknowledging the needs that exist, in these Ministers especially we have people whose goal is to improve the lot of carers or those with a disability.
In Inishowen and in County Donegal generally many groups are working to a common objective across a wide range of disability. Given the size of the geographical area concerned, I made the point to the health board covering my area that, despite this range of activity, there is a lack of co-ordination with the result that some people are falling between two stools. I am glad to say that further to this representation, it was decided that there would be a co-ordinator appointed to Inishowen and this has proven to be very satisfactory for those whom I have subsequently contacted.
Often in rural areas such as mine it is the feeling of isolation that can be the biggest difficulty, especially for the carers. As groups have developed this feeling has declined only slightly. Nevertheless, as facilities have also developed, the concept of the integration of the able bodied and disabled has simultaneously advanced. The work of the Moville mental health group has, with the support of various agencies and Departments, been in a position to develop what is now called Serenity House. This facility is a resource for the town for many different functions and it runs programmes that will assist those who, in the terminology in use, would be labelled as "socially excluded" but whom I prefer to see as assisting the general community in their social development. I trust the future plans of Serenity House will gain the support they so badly need as the input of the voluntary sector, in its backing of this and many other similar programmes, could not be evaluated in monetary terms.
Many challenges face those who care for young children with disabilities. In the past information as to what a parent was entitled to was not as forthcoming as it should have been and even in my rather recent political career I have been surprised to find that parents are only now being told if they had applied for a domicillary care allowance they would have been entitled to it. However, as they were not aware of it, the rest of the family had endured much hardship to survive without what would have been an essential boost to a low income. This should not happen in the information age and people should not have to battle to secure their just entitlements.
In terms of access to schools, a tremendous effort is rightly being made to give young disabled people the opportunity to participate in education.
It is a basic human right. However, there are still terrible problems for people who live in rural Ireland. This week I came across a person who had transport made available to them by the Department only for it to be withdrawn within a week. The alternative offered to them was a £750 grant to be paid at the end of the year to contribute to their transport. Without giving away details of the case, the person came from a remote area and the family income is small. When they inquired how much a taxi would cost they were informed it would be £35 a day. Even if the grant were extended on hardship grounds, which would be 50p a mile and for which the family would qualify, two issues remain. The circumstances of the person involved would not lend themselves to paying the balancing cost and there is no way they would be able to take out a loan to pay the taxi until such time as the retrospective grant was paid. This is only one example of an issue that should be addressed.
Many positive advancements have been flagged by the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin. There are those who see the current situation as insufficient, and I agree. However, a meaningful effort is being made and this is reflected throughout schools whether they cater for individual disabilities or on a larger scale, such as Scoil Íosagáin in Buncrana. There was an appalling lack of recognition on the part of the previous Government of the needs of these schools. For those people with disabilities above school age, there has been a lack of imagination and creativity at a high level. This is changing due in large part to the challenge from the voluntary sector.
The Minister for Health and Children was recently in a position to give a most welcome helping hand to the Cashel na Cor development in Buncrana. For months this group has worked quietly and tirelessly to buy a property it wishes to convert into a training unit for those beyond school age. Its vision for what Cashel na Cor will become is progressive and a pilot project for the Inishowen region. I am glad to say that all partners in the community, be they carers, parents, friends or funding agency representatives, are collaborating on this programme which will be a true challenge to deliver and maintain. However, all those involved have already proven their mettle and endurance and I wish them well in completing the project.
Similarly, the staff of the James Connolly Hospital in Carndonagh and the friends of the hospital continually progress the lot of those who enter the establishment. Hospitals of this type were in the past synonymous with the old attitude to those with challenging behaviour. As the Minister for Health and Children saw on his recent visit to the area, this hospital is a true example of a caring environment with a staff that is extremely forward looking. The move towards giving each person as much of a sense of individuality and independence as possible is contrary to the type of approach that would have been adopted a number of years ago. This establishment has many plans to improve the quality of life for those in its care. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, was impressed with that work and I am confident this is the type of project that should and will be given support within the life of the new plan.
For many adults who live in their own community, their independence is vital. It is no reflection on FÁS, which does great work, to say that it is not the answer for people who need personal care assistants. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Wallace, has not only spent much time on the matter but also understands the issues involved, and I trust she will be in a position to advance the case being made. Neither is FÁS the answer for the elderly, and I look forward to the Minister of State, Deputy Moffatt, advancing the Alzheimer's unit for Carndonagh in County Donegal.
I congratulate the Minister and the Ministers of State at the Department of Health and Children for their work. The recently published National Development Plan displays their commitment to the issue under discussion. There is a welcome capital investment of £2 billion in the health services.
It is regrettable that, in 1999, I should be debating the issue of facilities in public buildings, especially modern ones. I would have hoped that we would have learned from past mistakes. There should be a designated officer in every public building to deal with these issues. Complaints have been made about facilities. I am amazed that those who build public buildings do not provide enough space in toilets provided for the disabled. This is a complaint I have heard from the disabled about the new county hall in Galway.
The most important point made to me by the disabled is about the independent living fund. If we could achieve this, we would be in line with many European countries and would avoid institutional care for many people. Given the role of FÁS in this area, a change in community employment schemes would be helpful. At present, an applicant for a FÁS scheme must wait six to 12 months, depending on the type of benefit or assistance they receive, before being allowed onto a community employment scheme. I favour a change in that regulation to allow people on to these schemes once they sign on for unemployment assistance. Another suggestion is to allow people to work on community employment projects where they have reared their families and they are not on the live register but are available to work as care assistants.
People who work as personal assistants to the disabled often have to work unsocial hours so it does not usually attract a great percentage of participants. We should use our imagination to find ways to ensure more people participate. One disabled person told me that, to leave his home at 9 a.m., he would need a personal assistant to be at his house at 7 a.m. and this would have to be done five mornings per week. Additional training money should be provided in those situations.
I compliment the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, on the many changes he has made to the carer's allowance. Some 21 improvements have been made since he took office. As the Government has effectively abolished the means test for private nursing homes, it should move towards removing the means test for the carer's allowance and have a level playing field between the two schemes. For many years I have thought that the carer's scheme should be in the Department of Health and Children. Many more carers of the disabled should receive the carer's allowance.
One of the major issues for carers, especially for parents of disabled children, is providing housing in local communities for young disabled people. Parents are concerned for the care of their disabled children and there is a fear as to what will happen to the children after the parents die. They are anxious that their children will not be put into institutional care. I hope local housing is one of the areas the Minister and the Ministers of State would examine.
I welcome the fact that we are providing more money for respite, residential and day care. We must ensure those services are provided as near as possible to families. It has been acknowledged by voluntary groups that progress has been made. For example, many of the services for east Galway are provided in Galway city whereas, in the past, they were provided in Swinford, County Mayo. Many disabled people have spoken to me about the cost of transport to various centres. For wheelchairs, taxis might be the only option and those are very costly.
I compliment the Western Health Board, the Brothers of Charity, the Galway County Association, the Irish Wheelchair Association and all the voluntary bodies who deal and work with people with disabilities. The co-ordinating committee has been very useful. County Galway VEC has provided courses for people with special needs and I hope this will continue in future. I also hope the Government will address the need for physiotherapists and speech therapists.
I support the case which has been ably made for the introduction of an independent living fund to deal with some of these issues. There has been a well argued case for a long time in that regard and it is important that it be established.
I acknowledge that there is provision in the capital programme for new initiatives. I welcome the one on training because one way people can become independent is by providing employment for them. Over 80% of people with disabilities are unemployed. Some £175 million is provided for training to equip people who can take up employment to find it. This is a welcome move in the right direction.
I support the case made for an independent living fund and urge the Minister to take into account the views expressed by the disabled people of Clare and other organisations which have been to the forefront of this campaign, such as the soroptimists.
I understand Deputy Flanagan is sharing time with Deputies Clune, Olivia Mitchell, Deenihan, Timmins, Stanton, Hayes, Creed, Ring and Boylan.
Carers deserve greater recognition for their round the clock contribution to the health services and to society. The carer's allowance should be increased to at least £100 per week. Alongside this, the means test is a source of great annoyance and should at least be relaxed to allow for a higher disregard, thus increasing the numbers by at least 10,000. The neglect of family carers is scandalous when one considers the contribution they make in the Celtic tiger economy and the burden lifted from the State by its not having to commit tens of millions of pounds per year to additional institutionalised care. There is something rotten about an economy experiencing record growth, spending, revenue receipts, investment and performance when carers and the people they care for are being forced to protest, some in wheelchairs, at the gates of Parliament. It is a throwback to the Dickens era of "please sir, can we have some more?".
Carers and the disabled quietly waited their turn for years and years. To quote the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment earlier this week "there is nothing now that we cannot afford". The hour of the carer must have come at last and the Dickensian door can now be unlocked by the key of the millennium budget. I compliment the Carers' Association, the Irish Wheelchair Association and the Centre for Independent Living which operate to very good effect throughout Laoighis-Offaly. However, these groups are far too dependent on the support of FÁS for their survival. This support is not guaranteed as the Government proposes to cut FÁS numbers, thereby threatening the most vulnerable in our society. The relationship between FÁS and the disabled is haphazard and uncertain and, in effect, is not going anywhere. This is not surprising as the focus of FÁS in regard to the community employment schemes is totally different from that of the carers and the Irish Wheelchair Association. FÁS is centred around training and, once trained, people leave the schemes to take up full-time employment in various areas of the economy. This is not the fault of either FÁS or the people it trains; it is the fault of the Government which refuses to contemplate core full-time staffing. It is an example of crisis management at its worst. A complement of core staffing is required on a permanent basis. That is essential if those who are cared for are to benefit.
Nobody is advocating that people with disabilities should be placed in a position of luxury or privilege of a special nature. The aim should be to allow those with disabilities as much freedom and independence as possible. Their physical needs should be met but so, too, should their emotional and psychological needs. Personal assistants allow for such development and free dom and allow people to maximise their potential. The expansion of this scheme is a matter of urgency and importance.
I appeal to the Government to avail of the opportunity offered by the forthcoming budget to address the needs of those with physical and mental disabilities, the elderly and their carers. The word "integration" is being used increasingly. Let us see how serious the Minister's rhetoric is. He must provide funding to allow people with disabilities to participate fully and equally in society.
It behoves all of us to address the needs which have been outlined by various groups here today. Representatives from the Centre for Independent Living outlined the difficulties they experience with the personal assistant scheme. They submitted a pre-budget proposal to the Minister for Finance outlining a package which, if implemented, would secure personal assistants for them at the required level. The provision of personal assistants is dependent on FÁS. Currently, personal assistants move on and do not have a permanent commitment to their positions. We must continue to invest in the training of personal assistants and the relationships they build up with those they assist. It is the personal assistant service which must be addressed, not the personal assistants themselves. The Irish Wheelchair Association has outlined many possible schemes to the Minister.
Many elderly parents care for their children who suffer from mental disabilities and are concerned about what will happen to them when they die. The State has not made any provision for that. This week, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government announced a plan to build 5,000 houses per year over the coming seven years. Will any of those houses be adapted for people with disabilities? There is an urgent need for such housing in all local authority areas and I wonder whether the Minister has addressed the issue in any way.
There is a need for occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and psychologists. The list has been well documented by many associations involved with people with disabilities. Now that we have the money to do so, we must address the needs of people with disabilities. There are long waiting lists for respite, residential and day care and essential aids and appliances are limited. The Government must realise it is time for the citizens of this State to be granted the equality they deserve.
In view of the limited time at my disposal, I wish to focus exclusively on the plight of carers in the home who are the real forgotten people in society. They are forgotten because it suits us to forget them. We do not want to be reminded that we ask members of our prosperous society to serve as nurses, friends, personal assistants, home helps, physiotherapists and occupational therapists 24 hours a day without offering them any respite, financial or physical support or recognition. We are assisted in this self-induced amnesia by the fact that, for the most part, carers are unknown to State or health agencies because they do not appear on any lists. In order to appear on a list, it is necessary to qualify for something and because of the insultingly stringent means testing for the carer's allowance, very few people qualify for any assistance. Respite and support services simply do not exist for most carers and eventually they stop asking for them out of sheer frustration.
Carers work silently, quietly and alone caring for their loved ones, some of whom are mentally disabled, some of whom are physically disabled and some of whom are both. Others care for elderly relatives who suffer from dementia and require round the clock care. Some carers are elderly people who have devoted their entire lives to the care of their sons and daughters. Many have given up work, careers and opportunities to care for relatives and others have never had the opportunity to work. Many carers live lives of quiet desperation. On duty 168 hours a week, they are physically and mentally exhausted, abandoned by society, ignored by the Celtic tiger, driven to ill health and often, regrettably, to an early death. At weekends, when the rest of us are out in pubs, clubs and restaurants worrying about how many holidays we will fit in in the year, the carers are on duty at home, alone for the most part. Most cannot remember when they last had a holiday and have little expectation of having one in the future. The only outing on which they can perhaps depend is a shopping outing at the weekend facilitated by the kindness of a friend or neighbour. We have all collectively allowed this to happen and that is to our shame. If we are not ashamed, we have, in our prosperity, lost our humanity and our sense of what it is to be part of an interdependent and self-supporting society.
Since we last discussed this issue, a great deal of time has been spent discussing how we will spend the embarrassment of riches flowing into our coffers each day. We should decide tonight to end this institutionalised State abuse and exploitation of carers' sense of duty and devotion to their loved ones. We must provide some of the supports required to meet individual needs and allow carers to have the quality of life to which we all aspire.
I wish to focus on what I consider to be the critical issues raised during the debate. The level of disability payment is a critical issue. At the moment, recipients of the payment are treated similarly to other social welfare beneficiaries. Surely the special needs of, and hidden costs incurred by, people with disabilities should be considered. I appeal to the Minister to address this issue in the budget.
I want to refer briefly to County Kerry in my contribution. There is an urgent need for residential respite to give families and parents of children with disabilities a break. There is an obvious lack of respite care in County Kerry and support for those looking after people with disabilities.
Resource centres also need to be improved. There are resource centres in Listowel and Killarney run through community employment schemes. There is not a resource centre in Tralee, the main town in the county, which has a population of about 20,000 people. The employees of these resource centres should be core workers giving people with disabilities a better quality of service and more security. If the Tánaiste had her way there would not be any CE schemes in the future. What would then happen to these resource centres?
Why are personal assistant services not available in Kerry or in Southern Health Board areas? Personal assistants are available in the Eastern Health Board area so why are they not available in the Southern Health Board area? Personal assistants can be critical to a disabled person depending on the disability. A personal assistant can carry out many tasks which some individuals cannot carry out for themselves, including tasks as simple as dressing or showering the disabled person.
The rate of unemployment among people with disabilities runs at 70%. Fewer than one in ten has a basic weekly income of more than £100. There is not a centre for independent living in County Kerry. As someone who worked with children with special needs, I have often remarked that in this caring Christian society we cannot provide enough funds for people with disabilities.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this timely motion. In the National Development Plan 2000-06, in relation to health capital, we are told that the investment priorities among other things will be to address major needs in the provision of modern accommodation for the mentally ill and the physically disabled. However, in the body of the plan, there is little concrete evidence that this Government will address the many and serious needs of the physically disabled.
I recently attended an open meeting with the Arklow Wheelchair Association and it outlined its priorities as submitted to the Minister for his consideration in the context of the forthcoming budget. Members of the group referred to residential respite, day resource centres, personal assistant services and a cost of disability payment scheme. This scheme would seek to address the fact that it costs more to meet basic economic needs when one suffers from a physical disability than when one does not. I felt embarrassed at that meeting as members of the group questioned members of the panel on aspects of their requirements.
Many speakers referred to the points raised in the submission so I will dwell briefly on a few other areas. We are all familiar with the difficulties disabled drivers experience with insurance loadings and very often these same people cannot avail of a conversion grant. I would like the Minister to address this anomaly. Many people with disabilities feel completely isolated and very often this insecurity could be addressed by the provision of minimal funding. A large number of voluntary workers do excellent work in their capacity as carers but the remuneration is miniscule. I realise the Government in its last budget provided measures in this area which cost £18 million and to exclude the carers allowance from means testing would cost an additional £100 million. While its exclusion would not be equitable, the allowance should be increased to reflect the excellent work done.
During the Arklow meeting we were given a number of case studies on which to reflect. One of these concerned a person who lived in Wicklow town. Because the person suffered from cerebral palsy, he did not get out that much and, therefore, loved to use his computer. He had the Internet and said it would be a great advantage if a qualified computer instructor came to his home to teach him the different uses of his computer and the Internet. He could not afford a tutor. Can the Minister make some funding available for the education and training of people with physical disabilities?
I refer briefly to the almost total absence of respite care and request the Minister to address this shameful neglect. I pay tribute to the many people, particularly in the voluntary area, who work with people with physical disabilities and the courage displayed by many people who suffer from physical disability in a world which does not seem to care.
We now have an opportunity to make up for acknowledged underfunding in the past and the consequent hardship and lost opportunities of people with physical disabilities and their families. It is no doubt pay-back time for people who need support, their families and for people in great need. They have been called 'the forgotten people' and I call on Deputies on all sides not to forget anymore.
The Irish Wheelchair Association has identified four needs which it sees as essential at this time – residential respite, day care resource centres, personal assistant services and the cost of disability payment scheme. It says it costs money to live whether one is disabled or abled. In areas such as equipment, travel, telephone, fuel, food and clothing, medical care and assistance and so on, it is pay back time.
I allude also to children with disabilities, children attending special schools who do not have speech therapists or physiotherapists and whose parents – their carers – are extremely worried. I ask the Minister and the Government to ensure that enough speech therapists and physiotherapists are available to special schools so that children with disabilities can get a head start. I ask the Minister of State to investigate this matter and to report to the House on what is happening in this area.
Mr. Hayes
Politics is about choices. Every day we meet in this House, we make a choice as to whether we, as a Parliament, will support particular groups who are suffering. As Deputies on all sides have said, this Celtic tiger economy provides our country with a phenomenal opportunity to tackle disadvantage once and for all and to create a society in which those who have suffered for generations are given an opportunity to partici pate in our society. The greatest example of that is people with disabilities, their families and carers. They have suffered for far too long.
When I listened to Deputy McGuinness speak in support of the Government amendment, the words of Norman Tebbit echoed in my ears. He lectured us on this financial auditing of the Eastern Health Board and said it is not just a question of money. It is fundamentally a question of finance and of ensuring people are given a far greater opportunity in the allowances which are provided by our State. Politics is about choices so where will the Independent Deputies be tonight when the substantive motion in the name of my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, and my party is put to the House? The Independents have no difficulty voting against the Government when it is abundantly clear that a majority of Members are in favour of a position, as with PfP and other issues. Where will they be tonight? They cannot hide from their responsibilities tonight, they must own up to them and ensure carers and families looking after the disabled enjoy a fair and equitable standard of living once and for all.
The Minister for Health and Children made a lengthy speech last night heavy in detail about the programmes and initiatives in his Department for carers and people with disabilities, but obviously lacking in a real understanding of the issues confronting many of those who day in, day out must try to exist – I use the word "exist" advisedly – in a society which is ill-equipped to meet the real needs of the elderly, their carers and, especially, the needs of the disabled.
In the short time available to me, I will deal briefly with disability issues and, in particular, the need for an independent living fund. On numerous occasions, we have played political games with disability issues, and I use the word "we" because all politicians have. We have packed the Visitor's Gallery with the disabled and their representatives raising expectations only to repeatedly fail them by our actions and policies. By our collective failure, not only do we discredit politics but we diminish our own humanity and that of the society and electorate we represent. The Minister is in an unprecedented position given the amount of money available to the Exchequer. Notwithstanding the inevitable division on tonight's motion, to judge from Members' contributions the Minister has virtually unanimous support in the House for solving this problem once and for all.
The first sentence of the Government amendment reads: "Dáil Éireann recognises the need for the further development of services to people with disabilities, their families and carers". That is one step along the road we need to travel, but regrettably the rest of the amendment goes into self-justification and an automatic defensive mode. If we really recognised the need for further development and for initiatives for carers and those with disabilities, we would not be satisfied with the status quo or the Minister's contribution last night.
A paraphrase of contributions to this debate would be that we know what has been done and we know that our starting point was inadequate; we recognise the plans from the Department of Health and Children but they are not enough and we need to accelerate those proposals; and we need further funding to develop more services. After all, what service does a successful economy serve if it does not provide funding for those on the margins of society? To put it bluntly, the disabled have waited long enough.
I am delighted to speak on this motion and that the Minister of State from Mayo is here because I have a simple request for him that he and his officials can deal with in the next couple of weeks. The Minister of State and I know that the people of Belmullet have been disadvantaged since the foundation of the State. They do not have public transport – CIE does not go to Belmullet so they must depend on private operators for transport. The people of Belmullet have acquired a two acre site and want to build 13 specially adapted units for people with disabilities and all they want is £1 million. I am pleading with the Minister of State as a Mayoman to make sure that the necessary funding is provided for the people of north Mayo. They have a site but what they need now are pounds, shillings and pence. We are being told about billions of pounds but we are only looking for £1 million. I ask the Minister of State to ensure his officials are taking notes on this so that he can announce that funding after the budget.
This has not been a very caring Government. Its first two budgets looked after the rich. Members will know the song, "Now is the hour" and now is the hour to look after people with disabilities such as those in the Public Gallery. In my constituency and in others, for too long people with disabilities were hidden. They were hidden away in back rooms and one was told not to let friends or neighbours see them. Those days are gone and these people now deserve a piece of the national cake. In the past we did not have the money, but now we do. Not one person would disagree with the Government allocating the necessary funds to the disabled on a once-off basis in the December budget. I am telling the Minister of State, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste that now is the hour. The time has come to look after people with disabilities now that we have the money. I ask the Government to look after them because we have forgotten them for too long.
I had a person in my clinic last week who was in Dublin recently. He wanted to go into a lovely restaurant in the new facility in Heuston Station but he could not bring his wheelchair into it. When he wanted to go to the toilet he had to look for a key. This is 1999 and we must look after people. According to the Constitution we are all equal, but in the real world we are not. The rich are getting richer, the sick are getting sicker, the poor are getting poorer and those with disabilities are getting no assistance from the State. It is time they got that assistance and now we have the opportunity to do so. We support that and so does the general public. It is their hour and I repeat to the Government that now is the hour.
The party leader coming up the tracks. I support the motion and I acknowledge the role of carers in our society, some of whom are in the Public Gallery. I also acknowledge the courage of those with handicaps in overcoming their disabilities and getting on with life. Their courage has been a source of inspiration to many people. It is also time the Government acknowledged the role of the elderly who have come through hard times and who, in their retirement, might at least expect some comfort.
The Government recently announced not a spending programme but a spending spree. However, no funds have been allocated to the care of the elderly or the handicapped; this is regrettable. I acknowledge that public and private nursing homes have a contribution to make and I welcome their development, but they provide a fallback. If one talks to people with a handicap or the elderly they will tell one they would rather be in their own homes where, as an elderly person might say, they are in their own corner where they are lord and master. That is not much to ask and it is the least they should expect.
Many elderly people are lonely, given that the fast pace of modern life means neighbours and friends seldom call. They are on their own and the postman's knock is welcome. Carers have a role to play in calling, chatting and making the difference that makes life more comfortable. The handicapped are in a similar position and need people to call to them. The role of the carer cannot be overstated.
Regarding mobility, a car can take elderly or handicapped people to their local town or village or a place of entertainment. Electronic wheelchairs are not much to ask for those with a disability, but they are costly for a person of limited means. The State has announced a £40 billion spending spree which includes goodies for everyone but nothing for those who worked for this country and handed it on to us or for those with disabilities through no fault of their own. Those little provisions would make all the difference for them.
Accessibility to their own homes and to places of public importance is also important, as Deputy Ring said. Local authorities have a role to play in ensuring that the homes of the elderly and those with disabilities are accessible. Those are small items but are often overlooked. Special grants are needed but we are not talking about vast amounts of money. Small amounts of money will make all the difference to the quality of people's lives and we will have failed if we do not acknowledge that and if we do not make that contribution to those people.
Now that we have a wheelchair bus in Longford there an allowance should be provided. The Outreach centre in Aughnacliffe should also receive an allowance. As my colleagues have said, the role of the personal assistant is vital. I have met people involved in this area and they have spelt out how important those assistants are. Some Ministers have one personal assistant, while others have up to five and they were not on FÁS schemes either. I ask the Minister of State to put a scheme in place for personal assistants in order that people can have dignity in their lives. The disabled person's grant should also be raised to 100%; although it is now two-thirds, the applicant often cannot find the extra third. There should be a mechanism ensuring that the grant is raised to 100% in certain cases.
In responding to the motion, the Government requested that the Opposition recognise the record of the Government to date in responding to the needs of people with disabilities, older persons, those with mental illness and their carers. However, the need for the ongoing development of support services is stated upfront and this Government is committed to further enhancing the level of support services available to those who require them.
Last night my colleague, Deputy Cowen, Minister for Health and Children, outlined the framework within which services to persons with disabilities are being developed. This encompasses not just the health sector, but initiatives across many Departments. The legislative framework is being put in place to support the right to services, facilities and employment opportunities. There has been a major enhancement in the support available to children with special educational needs over the past two years. Training and employment support opportunities are being mainstreamed, with the Department of Health and Children retaining responsibility for the rehabilitation services.
In reply to Deputy Ring, the CIE bus goes through Belmullet and on to Blacksod. However, I will take up the challenge from the Deputy and we will see what we can do about the situation in Belmullet. For the past two and a half years it has done quite well as regards health services.
It is the Minister's challenge. I will be watching him.
The Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Ahern, spoke of a number of initiatives which have been put in place including the extension of the carers allowance, respite care grants and changes in the regulations governing the payment of the disability allowance.
Additional funding amounting to £42.357 million has been provided for services to people with physical or sensory disabilities in the period 1997 99 – £38.662 million of this funding was provided by this Government. The pre-budget submissions made by the various national representative groups set out a requirement for a broad range of support services, including residential, respite, personal assistants and the need for increased access to multi-disciplinary support. The Government is committed to the ongoing enhancement of these services.
The Government has already made significant additional funding available for the provision of aids and appliances, having allocated a total of £9.325 million over the past two and a half years. Consideration is currently being given to the allocation of further additional funding for this purpose.
This year?
Additional funding amounting to almost £113 million has been invested in services to persons with an intellectual disability in the period 1993 to 1999 – £53 million of this funding has been allocated by this Government since it came into office in mid-1997. The Minister, Deputy Cowen, reiterated his commitment to the further development of these services when he recently met representatives of the various national organisations involved in this area and informed them that it was his intention, subject to Government agreement, to have significantly reduced the waiting lists, in addition to having enhanced the level of respite care available, over the next two years.
The additional revenue funding provided to services for older people in 1997 amounted to £3 million. In 1999 it had increased to £25 million and next year will be £35.4 million. Funding for the Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990, has risen from £17 million in 1997 to £33 million in 1999. The commitment to the further enhancement of the support available to carers is obvious. The Government will continue to build on the progress made in recent years in these areas. Between 1998 and 1999, additional funding amounting to £19.4 million was allocated by this Government for developments in the mental health services. It is our intention to continue the development of the support services available to both patients and their families.
Significant additional funding has been made available in the Estimates for services to persons with disabilities, older people and people with mental health problems – £10.7 million is being made available to services to persons with an intellectual disability. This funding will be used to meet the full year cost of the 1999 developments and to meet identified needs in existing services. An additional £10.8 million is being made available to services for people with physical or sensory disabilities. As in the case of services to persons with an intellectual disability, this funding will be used to meet the full year cost of the 1999 developments and identified needs in existing services.
In all, the level of investment made by this Government in developing and enhancing support services for people with disabilities, older people, those with mental health problems and their carers is the concrete evidence of their ongoing commitment to provide as much assistance as possible to those who require it from the various agencies of the State. This is not just words alone.
The Minister's time is concluded. I must call Deputy Theresa Ahearn.
Will the Minister tell us about the £80 million health levy increase?
The Deputy was told about that last night. It is appropriations-in-aid; the Deputy should know all about it.
I wish to share my time with Deputies Connaughton, McCormack, Yates and John Bruton.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I would much prefer if Fine Gael did not have to table this motion – in fact, it should be redundant. I would be far happier if my task tonight was to congratulate the Government and to feel proud of the support this State gives to carers and those for whom they care. Unfortunately, this is not the case. On the threshold of a bright and new 21st century and in the midst of an unprecedented economic boom, this Government is still in the Dark Ages when it comes to carers and care requirements for the elderly, the mentally ill and people with disabilities.
This motion is not only timely, it is necessary. The evidence required to support this motion and to illustrate that patience is running out and we need to make serious investment in State supports and the provision of care for people with disabilities and their families, is around us in abundance. It is clear from the number of people in the Gallery this evening who came here to hear this debate; it is clear from the large advertisements in the newspapers, the enormous billboards and posters on buses; it is clear from the number of demonstrations outside this House in the past two years; and it is clear to every public representative who has heard at first hand from his constituents the anger and frustration at the slow pace of change in State service provision and support for carers.
Despite commitments given by successive Governments, the priorities afforded to the needs and rights of people in disabilities in Partnership 2000, the recommendations in reports such as Towards an Independent Future and A Strategy for Equality, and the raising in public consciousness about people with disabilities, their families, carers and advocates, change, if any is painfully slow. There is no dispute in this House about what needs to be done. What is in dispute is when it should be done. The promises in the newly published national plan, the fine words of the Government's relaunched An Action Programme for the Millennium and the aspirational messages delivered by the Minister for Health and Children are all very well but words alone make no real difference to the lives of people with disabilities or to those who care for them, unless they are backed by capital and Revenue resources.
People need to see the colour of the Government's money and the quick and efficient delivery of services. The submission of the Irish Wheelchair Association sums up the case of their members eloquently and cogently and also applies to those in the intellectual and sensory disability sectors, those with mental illness and especially those who care for them. The submission states:
Recognising the daily evidence of the spending power which is now around us, how long and how much do you expect us to keep faith with the political process? Given the present booming state of our economy, how much longer are we expected to wait for delivery on the commitments made almost a decade ago. Let us have no more false promises. Let budget day be the real start – the start of honest and sustained action to deliver on an long overdue commitment.
I ask this Government to ensure this budget delivers for people in need of care and to those who care for them. The tabling of this motion should not become an annual event in this House.
We in the Fine Gael Party wish we had the Government's resources and its opportunities to deliver what is needed to people with disabilities and to provide real support for carers. There is no reason the budget should not change the lives of carers forever.
Disabled people are still getting a raw deal despite the fact that the economy is awash with money. I wish to outline the plight of two people I met two days ago in County Galway. What happened to them is shameful and it appears that the State is hell bent on making a difficult situation worse for them. Over the past few years, serious illness has visited both spouses; one spouse had major surgery because of advancing cancer and has a permanent disability as a result. Her husband had serious brain surgery at the same time in addition to a major stomach problem and several minor illnesses.
As both spouses were employed outside the State and the European Union in previous years, they found on their return to Ireland a year ago that they had to satisfy a means assessment to obtain social welfare. Eventually both qualified for disability allowance at the rate of £73.50 each a week. The husband was encouraged on medical grounds to take up a light job outside the home and, after a long time, he secured a place on the local FÁS scheme. He only had the job for a week when the Department of Social, Com munity and Family Affairs wrote to him and told him that because he was working, his benefit would be reduced by £50 a week. However, worse news was on the way.
Three days later his wife received a letter from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs stating that her income would be reduced by £31 because her husband was working on a FÁS scheme. One would think that should be the end of their bad news, but worse followed when they applied to the Western Health Board for a mobility allowance. The movements of the woman are seriously impaired because of her disability, but she could not get the allowance. She was told that her disability was not bad enough although she had lost one of her limbs. These people have a ten year old car and they were advised for therapeutic reasons to take some short spins into the countryside. However, they could not get the mobility allowance.
This is happening at a time of remarkable progress in the economy. The Government's National Development Plan mentions spending money that we never thought we would have. Surely no Minister or Government could stand over what happened the couple I mentioned. I ask the Minister to do something about this immediately.
I compliment the wonderful work of carers and personal assistants in my county and elsewhere. In common with Deputy Connaughton, I wish to highlight a number of anomalies which have come to my attention in my work as a public representative.
I have been making representations for the past three years for changes to a ministerial regulation. This concerns the case of a woman who is caring for a bed ridden, doubly incontinent person in her home. Unfortunately, the woman became a widow after her husband was killed in an accident. She qualified for the carer's allowance when her husband was alive because he was a small farmer with an income of less than £150 a week. After he died, she applied for the widow's pension and was awarded it. However, one day later, her carer's allowance of £73.50 was revoked because she was in receipt of the widow's pension. She is still caring full-time for her husband's relative in the home and wishes to continue doing so. However, she cannot get the carer's allowance although she only received the widow's pension to compensate for the loss of her husband's income.
I have continually asked the Minister to address this anomaly. I made submissions to the review board which discussed this matter for over two years, but no progress has been made. I want this anomaly corrected because it is hugely discriminatory that such a person should be denied the carer's allowance because she became a widow and qualified for the widow's pension. I have begged the Minister to address this issue but I have not received a response. I was told changes in the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs would cost £15 million. However, following a recent parliamentary question, I discovered that only 16 widows applied for the carer's allowance in one year. That would not cost £15 million to administer and I again appeal to the Minister to address this matter. I intend to take every opportunity available to me to highlight this anomaly.
Another anomaly arises where a person is in receipt of social welfare. If a wife is a carer, she effectively loses £43.50 a week from her allowance if her husband is in receipt of social welfare. He cannot claim for her because she in receipt of the carer's allowance. A further anomaly arises where the spouse of a carer is working outside the home. The carer's allowance is added to the husband's income for tax purposes. The Minister should deal with these three major anomalies but if the first one I mentioned was addressed, I would be satisfied with my contribution as a Deputy.
The plight of carers and the reforms which are needed have been set out by my colleagues in relation to the means test for the 100,000 carers. It costs £75 a week to pay a carer but it costs £250 a week to keep a person in a nursing home and £350 a week to keep a person in a geriatric long stay bed. The cheapest thing the Government could ever do is radically reform the terms and allowances of carers.
The quality of life for disabled persons is critically related to mobility and transport. The Government has only paid lip service to accessibility and I wish to make an appeal on behalf of the Vantastic group in Dublin which provides a client based, door to door service for 400 people from Baldoyle to Bray. This service could be franchised across the country and the group has met the Taoiseach and four Ministers about this matter. It has been shuffled like a deck of cards but the group needs £350,000 a year. I appeal to the Government to make this allocation because the group can provide the transport service disabled people need.
I ask Members of the House to remember the mentally ill. I visited somebody who is ill in a mental hospital and I was appalled by the gloomy, smoke filled conditions. There is little for mentally ill people to do in hospitals and if they smoke, they do so all the time. This smoke is blown in the face of other patients who do not smoke.
It is important to try to understand the reasons people become mentally ill. It is not understood internationally. For example, it is not well understood why some people become depressed and others do not or why some people can survive certain shocks but others cannot. Mental illness is probably the one form of disability which is least discussed. As a result, the suffering is greater because a suffering shared is a suffering diminished.
I hope Members will bear in mind that there is child abuse but there is also abuse of the elderly. The elderly are frequently beaten by their carers. It is a pity that there is no system of inspection which is comprehensive of all homes, including State homes, in which the elderly are looked after. Any system of inspection should be universal. In addition, the standards of care and defence of the rights of the elderly should be universal and not only confined to the inspection of private homes. I compliment Deputy Ring for raising this matter on a previous occasion.
I also compliment Deputy Jim O'Keeffe and Deputy Theresa Ahearn, our spokesperson on disabilities, who are the authors of the motion and who brought forward this important issue for debate.
This is one of the last Private Members' motions that will be debated in the House this millennium. We should not forget that this millennium commemorates an event two thousand years ago, the birth of Christ. The measure of the Christianity and civilisation of this country is in the way it treats those who can speak least on their own behalf. Carers, those who are cared for, those who are vulnerable, those who are ill, mentally or physically, are the people who make the greatest call on our civilisation and Christianity. Now that we have the opportunity to do something about it in this House I hope something will be done as a result of this motion.
Deputies
Hear, hear.
Amendment put.
The Dáil divided: Tá, 71; Níl, 64.
Tá
- Ahern, Dermot.
- Ahern, Michael.
- Ahern, Noel.
- Ardagh, Seán.
- Aylward, Liam.
- Blaney, Harry.
- Brady, Johnny.
- Brady, Martin.
- Brennan, Matt.
- Brennan, Séamus.
- Briscoe, Ben.
- Browne, John (Wexford).
- Byrne, Hugh.
- Callely, Ivor.
- Carey, Pat.
- Collins, Michael.
- Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.
- Daly, Brendan.
- Davern, Noel.
- de Valera, Síle.
- Dempsey, Noel.
- Dennehy, John.
- Doherty, Seán.
- Ellis, John.
- Fleming, Seán.
- Flood, Chris.
- Foley, Denis.
- Gildea, Thomas.
- Hanafin, Mary.
- Harney, Mary.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Healy-Rae, Jackie.
- Jacob, Joe.
- Keaveney, Cecilia.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kenneally, Brendan.
- Killeen, Tony.
- Kirk, Séamus.
- Kitt, Michael.
- Kitt, Tom.
- Lawlor, Liam.
- Lenihan, Brian.
- Lenihan, Conor.
- McCreevy, Charlie.
- McDaid, James.
- McGennis, Marian.
- McGuinness, John.
- Martin, Micheál.
- Moffatt, Thomas.
- Molloy, Robert.
- Moloney, John.
- Moynihan, Donal.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Liz.
- O'Flynn, Noel.
- O'Hanlon, Rory.
- O'Keeffe, Batt.
- O'Kennedy, Michael.
- O'Malley, Desmond.
- Power, Seán.
- Roche, Dick.
- Ryan, Eoin.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smith, Michael.
- Treacy, Noel.
- Wade, Eddie.
- Wallace, Dan.
- Walsh, Joe.
- Woods, Michael.
- Wright, G. V.
Níl
- Ahearn, Theresa.
- Barrett, Seán.
- Belton, Louis.
- Boylan, Andrew.
- Bradford, Paul.
- Broughan, Thomas.
- Browne, John (Carlow-Kilkenny).
- Bruton, Richard.
- Burke, Ulick.
- Carey, Donal.
- Clune, Deirdre.
- Connaughton, Paul.
- Cosgrave, Michael.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Crawford, Seymour.
- Creed, Michael.
- Currie, Austin.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- Deasy, Austin.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Farrelly, John.
- Finucane, Michael.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Gilmore, Éamon.
- Gormley, John.
- Gregory, Tony.
- Hayes, Brian.
- Higgins, Jim.
- Higgins, Joe.
- Higgins, Michael.
- Hogan, Philip.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- McCormack, Pádraic.
- McDowell, Derek.
- McGahon, Brendan.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McGrath, Paul.
- McManus, Liz.
- Mitchell, Gay. Mitchell, Jim.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies S. Brennan and Power; Níl, Deputies Barrett and Stagg.
Amendment declared carried.
Níl–continued
|
Mitchell, Olivia.Naughten, Denis.Neville, Dan.Noonan, Michael.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Owen, Nora.Penrose, William.Perry, John.Rabbitte, Pat. |
Reynolds, Gerard.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Shatter, Alan.Sheehan, Patrick.Spring, Dick.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Timmins, Billy.Upton, Mary.Yates, Ivan. |
Question, "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to", put and declared carried.