I wish to share time with Deputy Brian Lenihan, Minister of State, and Deputies O'Donovan, O'Connor, Brendan Smith and Michael Moynihan.
Private Members' Business. - Services for the Elderly and People with Disabilities: Motion (Resumed).
The following motion was moved by Deputy O. Mitchell on Tuesday, 4 March 2003:
That Dáil Éireann:
–aware of the growing public concern and hardship caused by inadequate provision of health, housing and support services for the elderly and people with disabilities;
–noting the lack of sufficient subvention in respect of nursing home care and the inadequacy of respite and residential care;
–deplores the lengthy waiting lists for disabled person's housing grants, the changes made to the eligibility criteria for such grants and the failure of the current level of disabled person's housing grants to meet demand and modern construction costs;
–believes that this situation will result in further pressure on the over-stretched health and housing services;
–condemns the Government for its failure to address these and other issues affecting the rights and quality of lives of people with disabilities, the elderly, their families and carers;
and calls on the Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the Minister for Health and Children to immediately bring forward a comprehensive package of measures, including additional finance, to address these crises and to provide for the eradication of such waiting lists.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"–recognises the importance of addressing the needs of older persons and people with disabilities;
–acknowledges the significant measures being taken by the Government and the further development of services supporting the needs of older persons and those with disabilities;
–in particular, approves the Government's commitment to put in place an increased level of service provision in line with the programme for Government;
–commends the actions taken by this Government and the previous Government since 1997 in meeting this commitment which include the allocation of substantial additional funding;
–notes the commitment by the Minister for Health and Children to review the nursing home subvention scheme; and
–acknowledges the significant improvements to the terms, conditions and financing of the disabled person's grant and essential repairs grant schemes in recent years."
–(Minister for Health and Children).
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on issues related to the provision of services for people with disabilities and to outline what the Government is doing to meet the needs which have been identified for this population group. There have been a number of key devel opments over recent years on the enhancement of services and the development of new services to meet identified needs in the area of disabilities.
My colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, last night outlined the increases in the number of people with intellectual disabilities or autism accessing services generally. I believe the significant progress which has been made in terms of the growth in funding available for these sectors in recent years is indicative of the Government's commitment to the ongoing development of health-funded services for people with disabilities. Between 1997 and 2002, an extra €188 million revenue and €139 million capital funding has been provided, making a total additional investment of €327 million for the maintenance and development of services to persons with an intellectual disability and those with autism. Included in this funding is €27.2 million which was allocated to meet identified needs in existing services.
In the current year, further additional funding of €13.3 million has been allocated to services for persons with an intellectual disability or autism to meet the full year cost of the 2002 developments and to further enhance the health related support services to children with an intellectual disability or autism. This funding brings the total extra investment in these services to €340 million over seven years. Of this total amount, over €200 million has been built into the ongoing budget base. This funding has brought about very significant and unprecedented developments in the services. Between 1997 and 2002, about 1,700 extra residential places have been provided, with most of these based in the community. This figure includes new residential respite places which were developed in 1997 and 1998. Between 1999 and 2002, approximately 465 dedicated respite places were also provided. In addition, the period from 1997 to 2002 saw the provision of about 2,950 new day places.
Despite this very significant investment, demographic factors are contributing to growing waiting lists for residential services in particular, even though the number of people in receipt of services, including full-time residential services, continues to increase. The increased birth rate in the 1960s and 1970s has resulted in large numbers of adults in their late 20s and early 30s requiring full-time residential services. In addition, people with an intellectual disability are living longer than previously, adding to the need for services compared to previous generations. This has also been the international experience in service provision to this population. Approximately €180 million in additional funding has been provided since 1997 with regard to the maintenance and development of services to people with physical and sensory disabilities. A significant proportion of this funding, over €20 million, has been provided specifically for home support services.
On a point of order, has the Minister of State got the right script? It is the same as the speech last night by the Minister for Health and Children.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
That is not a point of order.
There was substantial repetition on the Deputy's side of the House also. May I continue?
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
The Minister of State to continue without interruption.
A further €71 million has been provided in once-off grants for capital projects and services such as the provision of technical aids and appliances. Under the national development plan, capital funding amounting to almost €108 million has been allocated to services for persons with intellectual disability and those with autism to provide for the infrastructural supports required by these services. This funding has been used to purchase new facilities for the residential, respite and day services and the refurbishment or expansion of existing facilities. It has also been used to provide alternative or refurbished accommodation for persons with an intellectual disability or autism who are accommodated in psychiatric hospitals or other inappropriate settings. The €27.4 million in capital funding allocated to this programme has facilitated the reduction of the numbers of such persons from 970 in 1996 to 452 in late 2002.
On the capital funding provided by my Department for residential facilities for people with disabilities, voluntary service providers have in many instances also accessed the voluntary housing grant scheme of the Department of the Environment and Local Government. This has enabled them to maximise the impact of the developments which have taken place in this service area.
We can take the script as read, if the Minister of State wishes.
It is acknowledged that further work is required in the coming years to advance services. Only through the active participation of all involved can this issue be progressed to achieve what is ultimately most important, the delivery of quality and cost effective services to people with disabilities. As I have stated, the Government has given visible evidence of its commitment in this area through an overall investment of €555 million in services for people with disabilities in recent years. It is also committed to moving forward to further enhance the level of support available to people with disabilities and others who require specific supports. However, this can only be achieved in a sustainable and enduring manner if it is delivered within a financial environment which protects the delivery of services into the future.
Let them hold on for another few years, is that the message?
I welcome the increased funding which the Minister of State has outlined in his speech this evening. Despite increased funding over the past five years, it appears that in some instances it is not enough. There has been significant progress in many areas concerning people with disabilities, including the increase in the disabled person's grant administered by local authorities and the essential repairs grant for the benefit of elderly people. If I may be somewhat parochial, there is a very active voluntary group in my area, Co-action West Cork, which was set up in 1974 and has done tremendous work. It has a number of bases in peripheral areas of west Cork. Although the funding received by this organisation through the health board has almost quadrupled since 1997, there is still a deficit and, regrettably, there has been recent speculation on the possibility of four or five redundancies.
I acknowledge that in the past number of years significant progress has been made in helping people with disadvantages and giving them a window of opportunity in so far as that can be given. In 1997, the total funding for this organisation was approximately €500,000 and this year it was in the region of €2.4 million. They have a problem and I would appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Malley, in this regard. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Martin, on the issue of core funding. There seems to be a deficit which in my view should be addressed because my constituency is a peripheral region, which includes the peninsulas of Beara and the Mizen Head and places remote from Cork. Due to their peripheral location these organisations encounter extra costs such as transporting people long distances of as much as 60 or 70 miles by bus and they deserve extra credit.
From my knowledge of organisations such as Co-Action West Cork and – not wishing to be parochial – Cope, which is doing the same sort of work in Cork, and other valuable organisations throughout the county like the one set-up in Charleville, they are doing extremely good work. We must ensure that their tremendous work continues. Much of this work was done with voluntary help over the years. They started off in the 1970s with practically no Government funding. The core funding they require should be put in place to ensure that they can continue their services.
The wheel has turned full circle. I am not quite sure if that is a good development in the case of these voluntary organisations because they rose out of a decade or 15 years of almost total dependence on voluntary contributions with an initial contribution from central Government or the health boards in the early 1990s, and they have reached a position where they have become very professional and have expanded their services. The Minister must also ensure that the funding they get is used in a cost effective manner and is managed correctly. These services for people with either physical or intellectual disadvantages must be maintained and increased for the future. I implore the Minister of State, Deputy O'Malley, to look closely at these services.
The All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution, of which I am Chairman, has embarked on looking at the whole area of disability as one of the fundamental rights under the Constitution. I hope that in our work over the next year or two we may give a window of opportunity for some of these organisations to put their case to us and address their real concerns. I am glad that I was able to make a contribution, although it was much briefer than I would have liked.
Like my colleagues, it is a big challenge to say my piece in the three or four minutes available rather than in a longer debate, but it is important that we take the opportunity to speak on this matter. I commend Deputy Allen and his colleagues for tabling this motion which gives us all an opportunity to make our point.
Although I sometimes feel the need to do so, I will not spend any time speaking about the merits of being a Government backbencher and the manner in which one must deal with business. Like my colleagues, I bring to this House my experience of public life in my constituency, as a member of the local authority – particularly in recent times on South Dublin County Council – and indeed as a member of the South-Western Area Health Board and the Eastern Regional Health Authority, and I am happy to acknowledge the work of the Deputy Olivia Mitchell at that level. Since we have experience of the local authorities and the health boards, all of us understand the matter before us and the challenge involved.
I will not patronise elderly people. I take the view that, just like everybody else, I am ageing slowly, but I have had personal experience of the problems of ageing in the family. My Dad was quite elderly and somewhat disabled by a health problem. We encountered the challenge which those issues bring to every family and members of the family responded to that challenge. There was a range of issues and some of the issues raised in the motion affected us like everyone else. Politicians are no different in that regard. We are entitled to respond to those matters and I have no hesitation in making my point to the Minister of State, Deputy Lenihan, who will understand many of these issues.
Certainly the elderly people in our communities are entitled to our support. At a time when the national economy is being challenged, if that is the appropriate term, we should be looking at those who need our support. There are other sections of our community who are entitled to have our support in that regard, but certainly the elderly have an absolute entitlement and we should not be afraid to speak out for the elderly and give them a voice if they are not able to make the points themselves. In the case of some of these issues, they certainly need our support.
In the short time available to me, I want to focus on the question of nursing home subvention and the availability of nursing homes. I live in a community which would be perceived as a very young community. For those Members who do not know, I am from Tallaght in Dublin South-West.
Some 60 beds are blocked in Tallaght.
Tallaght has a young population and a small elderly population, yet there are still people in Tallaght who are in that category. Indeed I am a member of the board of Tallaght Welfare Society which does a huge amount of work through its day care centre for people with a disability and for the elderly.
I often have to help families accessing nursing home places. This was a particularly common occurrence when I was on the health board. There is no nursing home, as yet, in the Tallaght area, although there are ambitious plans in that regard and Crooksling, which is quite close by, caters for women. In trying to help families access nursing home subvention in respect of good accommodation which the family can visit easily, I often find that Tallaght families must place their elderly relatives in nursing homes in places like Howth and Bray. This presents a challenge to those families who want to visit their elderly relatives. This is an issue which I am pursuing at local level but in a debate like this it is right and legitimate that I would mention such challenges.
The Government is taking seriously the problems highlighted in the motion. I hope the Minister understands that people have strong feelings about assisting people and I am happy to have been able to make these points in the short time available.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
As there are three remaining speakers offering and there are 12 minutes remaining in the time slot it looks like there are four minutes for each Deputy.
I want to say a few words in my contribution to this debate about healthy ageing and in particular the healthy ageing programme which is being organised by the National Council on Ageing and Older Persons in association with the Department's health promotion unit.
A healthy ageing programme is any innovative service or activity designed to improve the quality of life and the well-being of older persons that is in addition to the normal services provided to older persons in the region. Projects can have their origins in the health boards, local authorities, community development groups, voluntary groups, retirement groups or inter-generational groups.
The design of the healthy ageing framework has involved the following key tasks: reviewing the evidence base for health promotion with older persons nationally and internationally; building on the findings and recommendations of the healthy ageing review in 2000; studying healthy ageing programmes in the UK, Northern Ireland, the United States and Canada and conducting an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the healthy ageing programme as it stands; identifying groups of older persons who are disadvantaged in health terms and most in need of targeted effort in health promotion; and familiarisation with existing health promotion infrastructures; and developing the approach to fit with current health policy in Ireland.
I compliment the National Council on Ageing and Older People and my Department's health promotion unit for their initiative in undertaking this important work. The Department will be providing the required resources and I am confident that a programme will be produced to help us all survive into a healthier old age.
I am glad to have the opportunity of making a short contribution on this important matter. One of the best indicators of how we treat the elderly in our society is the standard of housing throughout the country. I am glad that over the last few years the standard of local authority housing has improved. Housing is not provided on the cheap nowadays. Due to the continuing substantial programme of local authority housing of recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of housing units available for the elderly and for people on the housing list in general.
One of the successful schemes has been the disabled person's grant scheme. As outlined by the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, last night, there has been a substantial increase in the maximum level of grant assistance available.
Which means fewer grants.
It does not mean fewer grants when more money is provided, as it has been.
Has the Deputy read the paper today?
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
There should be no interruptions as time is very limited.
Even the Minister in charge does not understand the scheme.
The Fine Gael Deputies obviously do not want to hear the facts. They interrupted the Minister of State, Deputy O'Malley, as well.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
Deputy Smith has the right of reply.
A few years ago, very few people were availing of the essential repairs grant scheme or the disabled person's grant scheme because parties such as Fine Gael and the Labour Party, who were in Government at the time, did not provide the assistance. With the very low level of grant assistance available in 1996 and 1997, people were not able to carry out repairs to their homes. With the maximum level, percentage-wise, being increased substantially, the number of people able to participate in the schemes has increased dramatically.
How long will they be waiting? That is the catch.
I agree with Deputy Connaughton to an extent. I was glad to see the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, announce last night that a review of the disabled person's grant scheme was under way.
It is high time.
High time is right. I agree there has been too much bureaucracy attached to the scheme. It goes from the local authority to the health board and back to the local authority. It is farcical—
Deputies
Hear, hear.
—that an occupational therapist or a medical doctor from the health board must go out and assist in each application.
The Deputy is on the right track now.
Surely we could accept the word of the person's GP if he or she were to sign the certificate stating that the person meets the medical eligibility criteria. Let the local authority or the health board carry out spot checks if they have concerns. It is farcical that in each case an application is referred from the local authority to the health board and lies there for some time before going back to the local authority, where there are more delays. Unfortunately, all public representatives have dealt with cases over the years in which the recipient of the grant had little or no time to enjoy their improved home. I would like officials from the Department of the Environment and Local Government to sit down with local authority officials and review this scheme with a view to cutting out the bureaucracy and red tape while keeping guidelines that can be implemented and checked.
Great credit is due to the many communities who have availed of the capital assistance scheme. The Department of the Environment and Local Government, to its credit, has encouraged many communities to avail of the scheme, whereby schemes of 12 or 20 houses are built so that people in isolated conditions can go to live in a village. They can still live within their own parish or area but without the isolation of living on their own. Schemes such as this should be promoted much more.
I am glad that substantial funding is being provided in the national development plan towards the provision of additional community nursing homes. In my own county, two nursing units have been built in recent years, one in Ballyconnell and one in Virginia. The 30-bed unit in Ballyconnell is a model for any nursing unit. Great credit is due to the Department and the officials in the health board on designing a nursing home of such a high standard. I appeal to the Minister to ensure the new unit in Virginia is commissioned and equipped at the earliest possible date so we can avail of the 50 places there.
I do not like to see a lot of unnecessary expenditure on professional fees. The Department or the health board will choose an architectural or design team to plan each individual unit. If we need 30 beds or 50 beds, surely we can have a standard, prototype nursing unit that will cater properly for the needs of the patients and ensure that the best value is obtained from the staff. The same thing happens in the design and planning of schools, with 11% always going on professional fees. I do not know what the level of professional fees is, but I am sure it is quite high. I would like to see those professional fees being put into bricks and mortar and into beds and facilities.
I welcome the opportunity of contributing to tonight's debate. In various communities, especially in County Cork, voluntary associations have come together to build sheltered housing communities consisting of five, ten or 12 houses. This is welcome and should be encouraged to a greater extent. One of the difficulties is that there is a lot of red tape and people are afraid to set up limited companies for these projects. As local GPs will agree, in many community hospitals a certain percentage of people – long-stay patients due to family circumstances and so on – would be better off out in the community if sheltered housing could be built for them.
I compliment the Departments of the Environment and Local Government and Health and Children on the amount of money they have made available for these schemes. Facilities attached to these include day care centres for the elderly, weekly and daily help services and meals on wheels – run in my own area by the local LEADER group – which provide a hot meal every day for elderly people living on their own. Unfortunately, demographic changes have resulted in the traditional family situation, in which the elderly live with their families, no longer being viable. People are living in very isolated areas, particularly in the countryside, but also in urban communities.
When the home help service started out it was underpaid and underfunded and the job was seen as demeaning. Now, however, it is very well paid and I encourage the Minister and the Department to ensure the service continues. It is a fantastic service, providing care for people in their own homes and communities. The elderly find it useful to have people coming in and out. Those who work in the area have come together to form a professional organisation of carers for the elderly.
I have listened to the views of Deputies on the other side of the House in relation to disabled person's grants. Over the last three or four years there has been a ferocious amount of red tape in this scheme. One grant I dealt with has gone back and forth five or six times. It was in relation to a new house and new drawings had to be provided for fittings, lighting and so on. When somebody looks at an application form he or she makes a judgment call: this person deserves a grant because the medical evidence is sufficient. I am delighted that there is a review under way. It is to be hoped the system will be streamlined.
The people I dealt with when I was involved with the disabled person's essential repairs grants were living in atrocious conditions without heating or proper shelter. I am glad that increases in the grants since 1997 have gone a long way towards making people's basic accommodation better.
I wish to share time with Deputies McGrath, Cowley, Boyle and Ó Caoláin.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Raising a child with a disability or chronic illness and caring for his or her needs into adulthood presents many challenges. In recent years, the growth of respite care services has begun to provide families with much-needed temporary relief. I have heard respite care described as "temporary relief from the responsibility of constant care-giving". The birth of a child with a disability or chronic illness, or the discovery that a child has a disability, has a profound effect on a family. When parents learn that their child has a disability or special health care need, they begin a process of continuous lifelong adjustment.
Social and community support can reduce the stress experienced by families. The support of relatives, friends, service providers and the community can help ease the adjustment period, an adjustment which influences all family members. Growing awareness of the effects of this adjustment on families has led to the development of support services for families to assist them through the lifelong adjustment process. Among these family support services, respite care has consistently been identified as a priority need.
While "respite" may be a new word for some people, it is not a new phenomenon. It emerged in the late 1960s with the de-institutionalisation movement. We should ensure that this becomes a reality for the aged and people with learning disabilities. Families with a dependent relative or a child with a disability or chronic illness know the commitment and intensity of care necessary. That level of dedication and care becomes part of daily life and family routine, but this same commitment can make stress routine too. Parents can become accustomed to having no time for themselves. Respite services are intended to provide assistance to the family and prevent burn-out and family disintegration. Many families find these changes difficult, if not virtually impossible, to handle. Even performing the basic necessities of daily life such as shopping or social interaction can become difficult or virtually impossible.
Caring families are providing such services representing an enormous saving in health expenditure to the State and would be more than willing to continue caring for their disabled relatives if respite care could be made available to them on a regular, guaranteed basis. However, if parents are unable to secure such guaranteed respite care on a regular basis, they may be compelled to seek an alternative, namely, to resort to institutionalising their disabled family member at considerably greater cost to the State. Accordingly, the establishment of a comprehensive system of respite care on a national basis would represent one of the greatest value-for-money programmes, preserving the family unit and supporting family stability.
I strongly support this motion because it is about people and services, and its tone expresses a caring philosophy. In section 1, I welcome the highlighting of the inadequate provision for our elderly and people with disabilities. This is a disgrace and after seven years of an economic boom, I find it unacceptable. Families urgently need day care and respite places.
During the general election, I canvassed in areas where elderly people had their doors locked and bolted at 7 p.m. on beautiful summer evenings. They were locked in for the night because of fear. It seemed nobody cared and people were looking the other way. I do not want to live in a society like that and it is time we posed some hard questions. Is this the way we want our society to go and is this the kind of society we want in 2003? If we do not support the motion tonight, that is exactly the way we are going. This is an opportunity to change and to put our money where our mouths are. We must come up with new and creative ideas and proposals to care for our elderly in the community where possible.
I strongly support section 3 of the motion which deplores the lengthy waiting lists for disabled person's grants and their current low level, particularly with current construction costs. I wish the Government would come and live in the real world. Let us look at the core issues in this motion – disabled people, carers and their families and those on waiting lists. We can do much about this in the coming years. We can implement a three year plan to deal with the elderly, the dis abled, carers and those on waiting lists, particularly in times of crisis.
The Government has failed to address these serious issues and is now walking away from its responsibilities. Improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, the elderly, their families and carers is the way forward. I accept that it must be paid for through taxation, but this is where we must make the really tough decisions and begin to create a fairer Ireland. Supporting this motion is a step in that direction and an important one. To vote against this motion is a step backwards and an insult to the people.
Let us now see the Government use the Office of Public Works's sale of State land to fund services for children and adults with disabilities, real on-the-ground services like day care and respite. I am not talking about creating more jobs for professionals, I am talking about looking after the 344 families in St. Michael's House on waiting lists. Let us remember that some of these people are over 80 years old and some are terminally ill. Let us see some action by the Government. Let us quit the spoof and the spin. I urge everyone to support the motion.
I am happy to speak on this important motion. It has often been said that we are all getting older, but there has been an explosion of older people and our health services have not been planning towards it properly. In my area, we lack consultants in such areas as orthopaedics and rheumatology, and men have to wait for five years, getting up five times a night, because of the lack of a single urologist.
The entire health system is geared towards putting people in nursing homes, which is a totally inappropriate treatment of people in old age. Why should people need doctors, nurses and nursing homes? They do not and too often nursing homes are used as a catch-all answer. People are there who should not be there. Even if it cost twice as much, it would be worth keeping people in their own areas, rather than putting them into nursing homes where they do not want to be.
In St. Brendan's Village we have continuum support, support at home at the day centre and in low and high support sheltered housing. The guarantee is that no matter how old you are or how disabled, you can stay in your own community. Not alone that, but we are the biggest economic regenerator in our area. We employ 65 people, 24 of whom are working under a CE scheme, and the remainder we employ ourselves, so we give real employment. The problem is that it is difficult to do this, although communities are crying out to do so. I acknowledge that the capital supports are good but the lack of a defined revenue funding scheme means that people are paying ten times more in nursing homes than they would be paying if they were at home in their own community.
We require more developments like St. Brendan's Village because it is about supporting people in their own area which is where they want to be. A major problem is persuading the local authorities to get on board with these schemes. Local authorities are the agencies to be approached in the first instance, but they must agree that there is a local housing need. The housing plans should be looked at because they are due for a two year review. Let us insert a clause requiring a certain amount of sheltered housing in each area. The future is in supporting people at home in sheltered housing. Too often communities do not get the start they need and land is not available. In this context, there should be an inventory of State land so that it can be provided for communities for this purpose. It is better for the older person to live in and contribute to his or her own community rather than be put in some far-off corner where they are forgotten about and where they do not do as well as they should. We would have a much better society if we could do that.
The Government missed a good opportunity in the budget by not introducing a defined revenue funding scheme to support older people at home. Home is where the heart is. All the reports state that people should be supported in their homes for as long as possible but if they cannot be supported at home they should be supported in their communities. Instead of sending people to a catch all nursing home with many people in it that should not be there, this can, if done properly, revitalise the community.
Many homeowners who do not need their big houses would love to be part of a sheltered housing project. I know Dublin Corporation is putting in place a project that allows people to go from a bigger house to sheltered housing. This scheme should be extended as it would take the edge off the high cost of land and urban local authorities should keep people in their local area where they will have communal support. This should be more about support than care. Just because someone turns 65 does not mean he or she should lose their independence or the right to close one's door on the world when one has had enough of it. It is possible to do this in sheltered housing projects.
In the many debates we have had in this Dáil on the subject of carers and those living with disabilities, I have been struck by those who look on from the Gallery. I have seen faces that are long, drawn and tired. I have seen faces that expressed fear mixed with hope and frustrated expectations. My fear is we are subjecting people to a sea of platitudes if at the end of debates such as this there is not an adequate Government response evidenced by real changes in policy and the provision of necessary resources. I fear this will not be met tonight but I am hopeful the Opposition parties can prick the Government's conscience.
We must make a decision between those whose care needs are total, such as those who need full-time home support and care or additional medical resources, and those who aspire to independent living. Health boards often take a patronising attitude towards those who live with a disability yet want to fend for themselves by using available resources. For example, the British Parliament passed a Community Care (Direct Payments) Act in 1996. This Act made the disabled person the purchaser of his or her care needs. Why do we not have a similarly imaginative response? Instead, we have a patchwork system. The community employment system is supposed to deal with labour market problems. An army of people was created and met some needs in the area of care provision but it was withdrawn at a stroke and there was no alternative plan as to how these needs were to be met in the future.
The Government has a responsibility to put in place a proper social service network for people who want to meet their own needs. This can be done either by providing direct resources or using an adaptation of the home help or community employment systems. The ERHA is running an innovative project in this area and it should be applied nationwide. The Government has been too slow in adapting to the needs of people with disabilities.
Current Government policy, and social services in general, depend far too much on the voluntary principle, whether it is charitable, voluntary or community organisations or the goodwill of a person in the family unit. In every other country that considers itself developed these services are provided by the State. Until we properly reward those who give their services voluntarily and put in place a State infrastructure to provide these services, debates such as these will happen on an all too regular basis.
The section dealing with older people in An Agreed Programme for Government states: "One of our core objectives will be to help all older people to live in the dignity which their immense contribution to the development of the country deserves". In the section dealing with disability and caring the programme states: "We are committed to building service provision and legislative frameworks which enable people with disabilities to fulfil their potential and make full contribution to the economic and social life of our country." Since taking office last June, the Government has done little to further these admirable objectives and has shown little commitment to resourcing these marginalised groups.
The advances made by people with disabilities and the elderly in the past decade are now in danger of being ruined by the fiscal policies the Government is pursuing. This must prompt conscientious voices into action. It must be recognised that in sectors such as this and others the tremendous opportunities arising from the past five years of unprecedented affluence were not used to maximise social benefit. As a result, people with disabilities and the elderly are still among the foremost of those experiencing social exclusion. Over half of those households headed by a person with a disability or a long-term illness is living in what is regarded as relative income poverty.
I call on the Government to support people with disabilities and the elderly, both through proper funding and, more importantly, the introduction of rights based legislation. In the words of the Disability Federation of Ireland, "The foundation stone of equal citizenship for people with disabilities is rights-based legislation." This can equally apply to the elderly. The State must recognise, in principle and practice, the right of people with disabilities to live independently. The system of payment, supports and services for people with disabilities must be suitably adapted for this purpose and an independent living fund must be established.
The State needs to invest in the construction of suitable sheltered accommodation, incorporating support services, for older people and people with disabilities. This would accommodate the desire of many of these people whose ambition is to live independently. Many older people would prefer to continue living in their own homes. As elected representatives, we all know of many people who fit into these categories. They are unable to do this because the necessary supports that would allow people to live independently are not available. Day care centres can play an important role in supporting elderly people by allowing them to live in their own homes for longer. Such centres need to be adequately resourced to facilitate them in playing an increased role in the provision of social and health care services for older people.
We must recognise that even people with a reasonable income have great difficulty in meeting the cost of long-term residential care. It is a huge burden on the individual and the family and demands significant commitment from the offspring of the older person or persons. In some instances, people are supporting two parents in long-term residential care.
Subvention in respect of nursing home care must be significantly increased and, most importantly, linked to inflation. It should not be the case that every time a Government argues for a tightening of the screw, the weakest links in society in terms of dependence should suffer most. If we do not prepare for the needs of people with disability and the elderly, and we will all be elderly some day, we are sowing the seeds for our own old age.
I wish to share my time with Deputies McCormack, Neville and Seán Ryan.
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle
Is that agreed? Agreed.
The Government's response last night to this motion on inadequate services for the disabled was one of arrogance and denial. I have never before heard anything like it in this House. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, is present because he was one of the chief culprits where arrogance is concerned.
The Minister for Health and Children tried to face down and ignore the genuine cases of hardship endured by the elderly as a result of drastic cutbacks, particularly in the disabled person's grant, the essential repairs grant and housing for the elderly. What is most disturbing, and it is something I have not seen in this Parliament in recent years, is the harsh and uncaring attitude on the part of Ministers and Ministers of State. Every night they glibly say that, as far as they are concerned, they have put more money into this service than any previous Government. That response is an insult to every disabled person, the elderly, every person with a mental or physical handicap and, above all, every carer in the country.
No Government in the State's history had the amount of money at its disposal that this Government had. Anything the disabled received was richly deserved and the Minister cannot take credit for it. What makes the disabled and the handicapped white with anger is the fact that the Government, and particularly Fianna Fáil, promised that if it was returned to power in the election last May, there would be a continuation of that type of investment. The Minister of State and his party knew that this amount of money was not available but they clinically and cunningly contrived to con the most vulnerable people in society. That will come back to haunt the Government. There is a huge depth of feeling among the public about what this Government has done to the handicapped.
The litmus test is whether people are waiting longer today for a disabled person's grant than they were two years ago. A 75 year old person, living alone in north Galway, recently developed Parkinson's disease. He lodged an application with Galway County Council for approval for a disabled person's grant. If that application had been lodged a year ago, he would have the grant today. Now, however, he is likely to wait three years for it. When one is 75 years old and suffers from Parkinson's disease, which is getting progressively worse, it is a long time to wait. All he is seeking is to change the bath in his bathroom to a walk in shower.
It is a simple job.
It is the same as asking a person of 50 years of age to wait 15 years. If that is how the Government will treat the handicapped in future, it is taking the wrong road and it had better understand that.
I am sorry the Minister for Health and Children is not present. He seems to be treating this debate with contempt. However, I welcome the Minister of State. I wish to refer to what is happening in the Western Health Board, the area with which I am most familiar. This matter is so serious that I intend to communicate directly with the Minister about it.
In July 2002, a deficit of €16.6 million in the Western Health Board was reported. However, at the end of the year, a surplus of over €8 million was not spent. How did the Western Health Board arrive at that position? It did so by cutting back. It cut back the mental health and older people's budget by over €4 million, it underspent the community care budget by over €2 million in that time and it had €17 million accumulated in the corporate contingency fund. The €17 million saved was money that was taken from all the programmes in the health board, including the community care, mental health and older people's programmes and the housing grants for the elderly.
What type of accountancy system is there in the Western Health Board that it could not even get the cutbacks right? At the end of six months it underspent by €8 million. It was not for the want of staff. There was a phenomenal increase in the number of staff in the Western Health Board over the past two and a half years. In January 2000, for example, the personnel and human resources section of the health board had a staff of 30, in June 2002 it had a staff of 70. The number of staff in the finance department in 2000 was 56 and in June 2002 it was 64. The chief executive officer's office had a staff of six in January 2000 and in June 2002 it had 14. With all the extra staff in finance, management and the chief executive officer's office, it could not even get the budget right.
The health board robbed the services of €24 million in six months. In the meantime a disabled person seeking a walking aid or a wheelchair was told they would have to continue to suffer because the health board had no money. One could not get respite care for an elderly relative or a few hours of home help. Parents looking after a mentally or physically handicapped or disadvantaged child or young adult were told there was no money for respite or residential care. The parents are exhausted and at their wits' end trying to give full-time care and attention to their loved ones. Old people seeking a grant to repair a leaking roof or to replace rotten windows under the housing aid for the elderly scheme were told there was no money, the repairs were not considered essential and that they must continue to suffer. The Western Health Board housing staff were forced to work under extreme pressure with management telling them that applications must be stalled, refused or not heard.
The same thing is happening this year. The allocation to the Western Health Board for housing repair grants is €2.53 million. Of that, €0.5 million is for grants for last year. Of the remaining €2 million, only €1 million is being allocated to housing repairs for the elderly. The other €1 million is being put into the contingency fund to balance the books at the end of the year, at a cost to the people waiting for repairs to their houses. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the Minister for Health and Children must wake up to the reality that the support schemes for the elderly and the disadvantaged are in a shambles in the Western Health Board area.
The Minister of State should investigate what is happening. Is the Minister aware of what is happening in the health boards? It is a book balancing exercise. All the energies of the health boards' staff are being directed the wrong way. They are being directed to saving money rather than allocating it and spending it in the areas for which it is provided. I will communicate directly with the Minister. I will not let this matter rest. What is happening in the Western Health Board, the one with which I am most familiar, is a scandal.
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. The Minister, in the amendment, asks the Dáil to acknowledge the significant improvement to the terms, conditions and financing of the disabled person's grant and the essential repairs grant in recent years. The grants are in a shambles. I will first deal with the special housing aid for the elderly scheme. There is a waiting list in my health board area of three to four years. We are told the most urgent and needy cases are being met but we are unsure of what that means.
I will give some examples of what is happening. In May 2001, an application was made for windows and doors for an elderly person's house because the existing ones were falling out. That matter is still with the environmental health officer. In October 2001, there was a case of an elderly woman living alone who had to cross a yard to reach an outside toilet. When she suffered a stroke she requested the installation of an inside toilet under the special housing aid for the elderly scheme, but that matter is still with the environmental health officer almost 18 months later.
It has stalled.
The health board says it is only dealing with emergency categories, so the scheme is a shambles. Last year 1,704 people were on the waiting list for special housing aid for the elderly, 1,385 of whom were in the Mid-Western Health Board area. Those figures are disgraceful.
A total of 22 local authorities are having trouble operating the disabled person's grant which has either been disbanded or is being re-examined. Those numbers are growing daily and, consequently, the disabled person's grant is in a shambles. The sooner both schemes – special housing aid for the elderly and the disabled person's grant – are dealt with the better. They should be rationalised into one system with the necessary funding. The Minister can undertake all the rejigging he likes but if sufficient funding is not made available to undertake the work, any reorganisation is useless and only amounts to a whitewash.
In 2001, 28,705 patients were readmitted to hospital within one week of being discharged. Hospital consultants are coming under unbearable pressure to discharge patients early to make room for others coming through the accident and emergency units. Most of those discharged early were elderly people who then had to be readmitted. The disgraceful early discharge system represents a false saving and puts pressure and stress on elderly people who have to be readmitted to hospital later.
Yesterday and today, we have received a history lesson from Ministers concerning 1987, but we have been told nothing about what will happen in the future. Since the Minister of State has raised this issue, let me deal with some aspects of previous Administrations. In 1996, a report entitled Towards an Independent Future was published dealing with the needs of people with physical and sensory disabilities. The report stated that there was a lack of comprehensive data on the number of services needed, yet the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government failed to deal with that aspect of the report and others, including inadequate access to information on service provision; disparities in eligibility criteria between and within health board areas; uncertain funding of voluntary organisations; shortfalls in therapy, day-care and home support services; uneven geographic distribution of services; inadequate transport services; inadequate co-ordination of services, which should be dealt with as a matter of urgency; and poor consumer choice for those with physical and sensory disabilities. The Government has failed in all these areas. That is our history lesson to the Minister of State who should not trot out statements about what happened during the previous Government's five years in office.
The lack of housing and personal assistants for people with physical and sensory disabilities takes a huge toll on their quality of life. The centre for independent living's latest assessment of needs reveals a waiting list of 370 clients in need of personal assistants. This is a total of 17,648 hours of services which are not being provided. The Government's amendment is a sham and a miserable failure in that it does not deal with the issue at hand.
I thank the Fine Gael Party for affording me the opportunity to make this brief contribution to the debate. Last week, I spoke in the House about carers and I outlined the lack of recognition, services and supports for their caring role which reflects to a significant degree on the elderly's quality of life. In this debate I wish to highlight shortcomings in the provision of suitable housing and appropriate housing grants for the elderly. Old people throughout the country are living in sub-standard accommodation, including vested cottages. For example, I am aware of a couple living on a basic income from old age pensions who currently have three containers to collect water that is seeping through their roof. The roof urgently needs replacement before it falls in. Other elderly people huddle together before open fires in draughty houses which require new doors and windows. They are at risk of contracting hypothermia. Other people have no indoor toilets or bathrooms. The Minister of State must agree that is no quality of life for people who have made a significant contribution to the country over the years.
I wish to refer in particular to the special housing needs scheme operated by the Department of the Environment and Local Government. The Department admits that Ireland has thousands of relatively poor older people, often living alone, whose houses and flats are so cold they many die prematurely. Thousands of others struggle on in discomfort and distress. This report was brought before the Minister back in 2000, yet the situation has not improved in the interim.
Various schemes for housing maintenance and repair, such as the disabled person's grant, essential repair grants, special housing aids for the elderly and the eastern community works programme in the Dublin area have major shortcomings apart from lack of funding. A house improvement grant scheme geared towards the elderly, with a clawback mechanism, is urgently required. The Minister's advisers may ask how such a scheme can be afforded, but why not? It is a matter of choice that has to be made.
Was it not the Government, particularly the Minister, Deputy McCreevy, who showed total recklessness when introducing the SSIA scheme? The Minister totally ignored his departmental advisers who warned that the cost of the scheme would be hugely expensive. The Minister deliberately understated the suggested cost, saying it would only be €127 million per year. In recent replies to parliamentary questions I have been informed that the cost of the SSIA scheme has now risen to €535 million a year, which comes to €2.6 billion over a five-year period. It does not end there either because some people will have an opportunity of making further contributions to the scheme, which could bring the total cost to the State to over €4 billion. Ministers could do much to improve the quality of life for elderly people with such resources, but the choices made by the Government do not reflect people's priority needs.
Over the past two days, contributors to this debate have spelled out the reality which is that elderly people are living in deplorable conditions. The House must state clearly that the Government has failed. It is time to stand up and be counted on this issue. The Government has failed to look after the elderly and provide for their needs.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to debate the needs of older people and people with disabilities, which was discussed last night and tonight. Because of my long association with the eastern regional health services, I have intimate knowledge of the needs of these groups and have visited most of the facilities available. I salute and pay tribute to all those involved in the provision and delivery of services to such groups. When I was Chairman and member of the health board, I played an active role in the planning and opening of a number of new modern community nursing units.
We have heard the two sides of this debate, areas that warrant more improvements and details of the considerable progress made over the past five years in the provision of services. It will be my job, in these more difficult times, to address the areas that warrant more improvements and to keep as much as possible of that great progress going over the next number of years.
I am known to hold strong views on issues of principle. I strongly believe supporting older people must be a core priority of the Government. Ireland is a small country that has achieved success beyond measure and certainly beyond the expected capacity of a nation of our size. Through the efforts of previous generations, the economy and our quality of life is at the healthy level we enjoy today. Our success has been truly built on the shoulders of giants. They cared for us, now it is our time to care for them. As stated in the programme for Government, we intend to care and help all older people to live in dignity, which their full measured contribution to the development of our country deserves. I am determined to see a society where older people can live in dignity and care is provided whenever needed. I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary contribution that some older people continue to make to society, the development of an active and fulfilled third age has long been reality.
The health strategy sets out the following actions and targets for older people: development of a co-ordinated action plan to meet the needs of ageing and older people; funding of community groups to facilitate volunteers in providing support services; implementation of an action plan for dementia; clarification of eligibility versus entitlement to services; review of the nursing home subvention scheme; consideration of the financing of long-term care; introduction of an integrated approach to care planning for individuals; and establishment of regional advisory panels in all health board areas for older consumers and their carers to provide them with a voice.
I want to see an increased number of day care centres, additional assessment and rehabilitation beds, additional day hospital beds, additional nursing-care beds, including for long-term, convalescent and respite patients. I am pleased to say that work has commenced to achieve progress on implementing most of these targets.
I have long felt that there has been a need for greater co-ordination between various Depart ments in the provision of services for older people. Therefore, immediately after my appointment to office, I set up, and now chair, an inter-departmental group on the needs of older people. This group provides the opportunity for a positive influence to be brought on all services provided. The group is taking a cross-cutting approach to its work, with members speaking with authority and having influence on their Department's policy on services for older people. The group's initial focus has been on what is being done at present, with a view to having better co-ordination and integration between Departments and the various agencies in those areas.
What has it achieved?
Issues warranting particular attention include long-stay accommodation, home support and other housing matters, the various home improvement schemes, consolidation and simplification of application forms, security of the elderly and equality matters in relation to older people, and incorporating the recommendations of the Equality Authority report entitled "Implementing Equality for Older People". Deputy Connaughton raised an interesting point which I will actively pursue and check with the Equality Authority and that is that I will be in a position to request positive measures should be put in place for older people along the lines he mentioned in cases where older people may have to wait for services for an unacceptable period.
The Minister of State would want to hurry up.
To date, participating Departments include the Departments of the Environment and Local Government, Social and Family Affairs, Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Transport. As well as the Departments, there have been contributions by a number of statutory agencies, including Comhairle, the national council, the Equality Authority, the Association of Health Boards in Ireland, voluntary bodies including the Senior Citizens' Parliament, and a number of health boards and local authorities. I am pleased to indicate that tremendous progress is being made.
That is not the case at all.
(Interruptions).
Allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.
I can answer that by saying that many speakers referred to the DPG and the ERG. I am aware that there are difficulties in this area. I identified that before hearing about it here today and have set up a pilot scheme in the Northern Area Health Board and in Dublin City Council area.
The Deputy should set one up in Galway.
I am delighted to say that the progress of the pilot scheme on the scope for streamlining the disabled person's grant and essential repairs grant is—
(Interruptions).
I want to say a few words about the Report on Elder Abuse which was published towards the end of last year and the implementation of the recommendations contained in it. I have allocated €0.8 million for its recommendations to be implemented in 2003.
The Government values our older people and people with a disability. Fianna Fáil has a proven track record in the area having regard to our generous pension increases over the years, the introduction and enhancement of free schemes and secondary benefits and the development of care and support structures in our communities. I regret I do not have more time to say all I wish to say on this matter.
I wish to share my time with Deputy Stanton.
That is agreed.
I compliment Deputies Olivia Mitchell and Allen on tabling this motion and all those who contributed to it. It is hard to believe when one lives in a modern democracy that the major Opposition party would have to table two parliamentary motions in a year to address the dire circumstances in which large sections of Irish people are living, but thanks to the Government, these men and women are not living at all. As my colleagues have clearly outlined, these people are merely existing, many of them, their carer and families, hanging on by the slimmest of threads.
The reality of disability does not confine itself to only one person, it extends to people's husbands, wives, children, parents and siblings. Ask anyone facing the gross incapacitation caused by chronic, progressive MS, ask any man or woman dealing with the creeping, but certain, paralysis caused by motor neurone disease and they will tell one about it if they can. Ask Minister, if you dare.
It is clear that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, what one might call another willing coalition, are presiding over a sort of survival of the fittest society. The message of the action and the attitude of this Government could not be clearer: properly functioning bodies, good; poorly functioning bodies, bad. That may be graphic, but that is the reality.
What is altogether more galling is that this official attitude prevails in the European Year of People with disabilities, the year when Ireland claims to be so proud to host the Special Olympics, which we are. "Be happy for me" is their motto. As a citizen and a politician, I cannot poss ibly be happy for people who, whether by virtue of physical, intellectual or other disability, are daily deliberately and systematically denied not only their basic civil rights but in too many instances their very human rights, especially the right to live with dignity.
Try cooking a meal for children and putting them to bed at night in one's dream home complete with a 25 year mortgage when that dream becomes a nightmare when a young mother of 35 years of age develops progressive MS, or try to negotiate the steps to one's modified house or to go upstairs to take a shower in one's modified bathroom when both one's legs have been amputated because of the complications of diabetes. That is what some in the Government call "dignity" and what the Government calls "looking after all the children equally". In the Government's book that may be so because despite the fact that the Minister of State referred to a pilot scheme for the DPG, how else can one explain its descent into chaos, an 8% cut in the budget and no new services planned for this year? We might have details of the pilot scheme and there may be the possibility of it being extended nationwide, if it a success.
Hopefully.
It is deplorable that in any modern democracy people should have to exist like this. It is entirely unacceptable that in 2003 people with disabilities who need to make their homes, the places where they live, accessible to them, are entitled to recoup only 60% of the cost of so doing. Surely they deserve to be treated better than this. People with disabilities are among our poorest and most disadvantaged. The unemployment rate in this most fragile sector of society is 70%. In that case how could they possibly afford to shell out large sums to modify their homes? The ability to use the bathroom on one's own in one's own home is surely a human right in this day and age. In a broader context, where personal assistance is required, as was referred to by many speakers, its provision should not be debated; it should be provided without issue. I have already espoused a non-means tested cost of care and disability allowance. Perhaps the Government will address that and publish its proposals as quickly as possible.
On the BBC the other night there was a shocking account of the AIDS epidemic sweeping parts of Africa. The people of Swaziland in particular are being annihilated. To camera, the Government man blamed the health official for the treatment crisis. The king of the region was interviewed and outlined the urgent and shocking nature of the position. However, he has just bought a €30 million jet, twice the health budget for his people. If one wanted to be clever about this, one could say there is a certain resonance in that this week in Ireland. For better or worse, the Minister for Health and Children has been blamed as being the Government man and he compounded that by saying on "Morning Ireland" that he is not a hospital manager. Full marks to him for that. He is not, he is the Minister for Health and Children, the man with whom the buck stops in this case. While the health service disintegrates with spectacular certainty, another one of his colleagues has been mandated to buy another Government jet, perhaps at the same price as the jet of the king of Swaziland.
Everything of which my party colleagues have spoken is symptomatic of the deep malaise at the heart of Ireland's health "disservice". Those in Government appear to have neither the wit nor the will to do anything radical about it. They no longer have the famous X ingredient, the cure for all the nation's ills over the past five years – money. The country and economy of which the Government took control in 1997 was in sound shape. The nation's legacy became a potential panacea for the Government's gross mismanagement and disconnection from the concept of real reform. The Government has wasted millions of the people's money by throwing it at a system that the Government's consultants said was unable to absorb it. The Government knew that in hiring 30,000 people to work in health, only 6,150 would be employed as front-line medical personnel. I have nothing against those employed in administration, but perhaps we should be told why the ratio is 4:1 or 5:1. Perhaps the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, will explain how the intellectually penetrating analysis came up with that one.
The Taoiseach says there is no crisis in the health service while the national health strategy is in tatters. Hospital waiting lists have increased – in St. Vincent's nearby they have increased by 108% – BreastCheck is available in only three health regions, and the medical card system is in dire need of reform. Need I go on?
Last night the Minister for Health and Children told the House: "No Government, across all Departments, had a record like that of the present Government." He went on to say: "No Government since the foundation of the State has a record equal to that of the present Government." When it comes to health and disability, one can only say "Amen" to that.
We should not be debating this issue, especially this year, the European Year of People with Disabilities. I am concerned when I hear Ministers and Ministers of State saying they will do their best to maintain services in the current dire economic circumstances. Many speakers on all sides except the Government pointed out the problems and human issues involving ordinary people, citizens of the State who are suffering. I hope the debate will alert those in authority, the Minister and his officials, to re-examine the lack of services, which is extremely serious.
The people involved should have these services as of right and not by grace or favour. The services should be ring-fenced and made available. There is too much red tape and too many appli cation forms to be filled out. I will hold the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, to account and hope that what he said will happen in a few months will come to pass and that the red tape will disappear.
The Minister for Health and Children is under pressure because the health service is crumbling. The man is ageing as we look at him. There was a vibrant economy when the Government took over in 1997 and it rode that wave for a few years. Six years later, we have cuts in spending.
I tried a year ago to find out how many chronically sick young people there were in the State. The Minister said I would receive a reply as a matter of urgency. I received it one year later after tabling the question another three times. As a medical practitioner, the Ceann Comhairle will understand what is meant by "chronically sick young people". There are 914 such people awaiting beds. Many health boards have no provision in this regard. I checked this with some public health workers and they told me that these figures are an underestimation of the reality. It is worse than the reply suggests.
It took a year for these figures to be produced. That shows the Minister does not know what is happening and is not aware of the need. If he does not know that, how can he plan for it? We know that the database for physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities that is being worked on has run into difficulties. Perhaps the Minister will check that out. We know that funding for 2002 for physical and sensory disability has not come through. What are we playing at? Who are we codding? Real people are involved.
The mainstreaming of community employment services was also supposed to take place. No money has been allocated to health boards in 2003 for mainstreaming CE schemes and no health services provided by CE workers services have been mainstreamed to date. This is a serious issue for people and perhaps the Minister will, as a result of this debate, kick some butt somewhere and have this remedied. People will lose their personal assistants and care workers in a few weeks' time and cannot have them replaced. This is serious for such people who depend on their assistants to help them get up, get dressed and have their breakfast, and without whom they would not otherwise be able to do these tasks. People were promised that more than 2,000 such assistants would be mainstreamed. Deputy Ring was told this 12 months ago, but nothing has happened and there is no plan for this year.
Political decisions are being made. A new Government jet is being bought and hundreds of millions were spent on the Bertie Bowl which will never be built. It was little more than an ego trip. The people in real need are being marginalised, sidelined and forgotten because Fianna Fáil has decided there are no votes in that constituency. I am convinced that is the reason. If there were votes, Fianna Fáil would be singing a different tune. We have descended to this cynical level where the party's spin doctors public relations merchants and advisory and focus groups have decided that there are no votes in disability, as a result of which these people are marginalised, hidden, silent and forgotten and the Government makes spending cuts in this area. They are not forgotten on this side of the House. We will hold the Government to account on behalf of the people who have no voice, despite the fact that the systems of the House try to silence us at every turn.
I thank everyone who contributed to this important debate. Among the matters brought to our attention was that the home help agreement element of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness has not been paid since April 2001 to the Irish Wheelchair Association in five health board areas. This amounts to €2.5 million. We could keep going on about things that are not happening but should be. Why are they not happening? The Minister should take note of this.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the disabled person's grant was here last night. He ran out of the House afterwards in shock and has not appeared tonight. He said everything was fine, but if he read the newspapers today he would see that many of the health boards have stopped paying and suspended the schemes. Maybe some of the PR merchants in the Department should be asked to look at this. Perhaps they are too busy admiring pictures of the Ministers and getting those pictures in the newspapers. Instead of really looking at the issues, the Minister is spending money on PR and spin. He should phone the health boards to find out what is really happening on the ground. He does not need a review for that. He should go to the health board offices and ask for the files to find out why people are waiting and why grants are being suspended.
The Minister is smiling at me and thinking I am just making a speech. However, these are serious issues that have to be addressed. We call on people from all sides of the House to support the motion. I know many Government backbenchers who spoke in this debate are muzzled because of the party Whip. They are afraid to criticise their Minister in public, but perhaps some of them will talk to the Minister in private and tell him what is the real issue.
I commend the motion to the House.
Amendment put.
Tá
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Ahern, Michael.Andrews, Barry.Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Browne, John.Callanan, Joe.Callely, Ivor.Carty, John.Cassidy, Donie.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Cregan, John.Curran, John.Dempsey, Noel.Dempsey, Tony.Dennehy, John.Devins, Jimmy.Ellis, John.Finneran, Michael.Fitzpatrick, Dermot.Fleming, Seán.Gallagher, Pat The Cope.Glennon, Jim.Grealish, Noel.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Hoctor, Máire.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Seamus.Kitt, Tom.Lenihan, Brian. |
Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McDowell, Michael.McEllistrim, Thomas.Martin, Micheál.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Mulcahy, Michael.Nolan, M. J.Ó Cuív, Éamon.Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.O'Connor, Charlie.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Donovan, Denis.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Malley, Fiona.O'Malley, Tim.Parlon, Tom.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Sexton, Mae.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Wallace, Dan.Walsh, Joe.Wilkinson, Ollie.Woods, Michael.Wright, G. V. |
Níl
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Allen, Bernard.Boyle, Dan.Breen, James. |
Breen, Pat.Broughan, Thomas P. Bruton, Richard. |
Ní–continued
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Burton, Joan.Connolly, Paudge.Costello, Joe.Coveney, Simon.Cowley, Jerry.Crowe, Seán.Cuffe, Ciarán.Deasy, John.Deenihan, Jimmy.English, Damien.Enright, Olwyn.Ferris, Martin.Gilmore, Eamon.Gogarty, Paul.Gormley, John.Harkin, Marian.Hayes, Tom.Healy, Seamus.Higgins, Michael D.Hogan, Phil.Howlin, Brendan.Kenny, Enda.Lynch, Kathleen.McCormack, Padraic.McGinley, Dinny.McGrath, Finian. |
McHugh, Paddy.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Olivia.Morgan, Arthur.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.O'Dowd, Fergus.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Pattison, Seamus.Penrose, Willie.Quinn, Ruairí.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Sherlock, Joe.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Twomey, Liam.Upton, Mary. |
Tellers: Tá: Deputies Hanafin and Kelleher; Níl: Deputies Coveney and Broughan.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
Tá
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Ahern, Michael.Andrews, Barry.Ardagh, Seán.Aylward, Liam.Brady, Johnny.Brady, Martin.Browne, John.Callanan, Joe.Callely, Ivor.Carty, John.Cassidy, Donie.Collins, Michael.Cooper-Flynn, Beverley.Cregan, John.Curran, John.Dempsey, Noel.Dempsey, Tony.Dennehy, John.Devins, Jimmy.Ellis, John.Finneran, Michael.Fitzpatrick, Dermot.Fleming, Seán.Gallagher, Pat The Cope.Glennon, Jim.Grealish, Noel.Hanafin, Mary.Harney, Mary.Haughey, Seán.Hoctor, Máire.Keaveney, Cecilia.Kelleher, Billy.Killeen, Tony.Kirk, Seamus.Kitt, Tom.Lenihan, Brian. |
Lenihan, Conor.McCreevy, Charlie.McDaid, James.McDowell, Michael.McEllistrim, Thomas.Martin, Micheál.Moloney, John.Moynihan, Donal.Moynihan, Michael.Mulcahy, Michael.Nolan, M.J.Ó Cuív, Éamon.Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.O'Connor, Charlie.O'Dea, Willie.O'Donnell, Liz.O'Donoghue, John.O'Donovan, Denis.O'Flynn, Noel.O'Keeffe, Batt.O'Keeffe, Ned.O'Malley, Fiona.O'Malley, Tim.Parlon, Tom.Power, Seán.Roche, Dick.Ryan, Eoin.Sexton, Mae.Smith, Brendan.Smith, Michael.Treacy, Noel.Wallace, Dan.Walsh, Joe.Wilkinson, Ollie.Woods, Michael.Wright, G.V. |
Níl
|
Allen, Bernard.Boyle, Dan.Breen, James.Breen, Pat.Broughan, Thomas P.Bruton, Richard.Burton, Joan.Connolly, Paudge.Costello, Joe.Coveney, Simon.Cowley, Jerry.Crowe, Seán.Cuffe, Ciarán.Deasy, John.Deenihan, Jimmy.English, Damien.Enright, Olwyn.Ferris, Martin.Gilmore, Eamon.Gogarty, Paul.Gormley, John.Harkin, Marian.Hayes, Tom.Healy, Seamus.Higgins, Michael D.Hogan, Phil.Howlin, Brendan.Kenny, Enda.Lynch, Kathleen. |
McCormack, Padraic.McGinley, Dinny.McGrath, Finian.McHugh, Paddy.McManus, Liz.Mitchell, Olivia.Morgan, Arthur.Moynihan-Cronin, Breeda.Neville, Dan.Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.O'Dowd, Fergus.O'Keeffe, Jim.O'Shea, Brian.O'Sullivan, Jan.Pattison, Seamus.Penrose, Willie.Quinn, Ruairi.Rabbitte, Pat.Ring, Michael.Ryan, Seán.Sargent, Trevor.Sherlock, Joe.Shortall, Róisín.Stagg, Emmet.Stanton, David.Twomey, Liam.Upton, Mary. |
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Hanafin and Kelleher; Níl, Deputies Coveney and Broughan.
Question declared carried.