Deputy Tully is leading for Sinn Féin on this motion. She has 20 minutes. I presume she is sharing time with her colleagues? Yes.
Funding for Persons with Disabilities: Motion [Private Members]
I could talk for hours about it, but anyway. I move:
That Dáil Éireann:
condemns the Government's Budget for 2024 which, like previous Budgets, falls far short of what is required for disability services, meaning that children will continue to wait too long for, and go without, the assessments and therapies they need, while young people with disabilities will remain inappropriately placed in nursing homes, and carers will continue to burnout without respite;
notes that:
— the Disability Capacity Review to 2032: A Review of Disability Social Care Demand and Capacity Requirements up to 2032 was published in July 2021 and it estimated the level of residential services, day services, personal assistance and home supports, respite services, therapies and community services required up to 2032;
— the estimates for personal assistance and the proposed funding allocations were roundly criticised by disabled persons organisations as inadequate to truly support independent living;
— more than two years after its publication, the Government have yet to publish a costed action plan to implement the findings of the capacity review; and
— the Government's mental health policies, Sharing the Vision: A Mental Health Policy for Everyone and A Vision for Change, indicate a need for 16 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Intellectual Disability Teams comprising 176 staff yet only four teams are in place;
further notes that:
— the Government have yet to agree a sustainable funding model for section 39 organisations, which provide essential core services for people with disabilities on behalf of the Health Service Executive;
— disability service providers are facing severe cost pressures which have not been addressed on a sustainable basis and which were only temporarily addressed by a non-recurring subsidy in 2023; and
— the Government have yet to ratify the Optional Protocol of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, despite commitments by Government parties to do so and previous motions agreed by Dáil Éireann calling on the Government to do so; and
calls on the Government to:
— guarantee that the one-off payments provided to assist disability service providers to cover the ongoing high cost of delivering existing services in 2023 will be repeated for 2024;
— address the recruitment and retention crisis in disability services by making a better offer to trade unions and allocating the funding necessary to achieve pay parity for workers in section 39 organisations;
— revise the budgetary provisions for disability services so that new monies available for improvements amount to at least €155 million next year and separately to ensure that the costs of disability and of running disability services are properly provided for; and
— publish a fully costed disability action plan which meets the needs of people with disabilities, including existing unmet needs and expected future needs, and which places disability services on a sustainable footing.
I welcome the outcome of the talks that resulted in the suspension of strike action by health and social care workers today. This news came as a relief to disabled people and their families. If unresolved, it would have caused serious hardship for disabled people, family carers and the wider community because these workers work in front-line services, including disability and children's services, care for older people, homelessness, addiction and so on. I welcome the increase in the funding offer for pay; we will wait to see if this is acceptable to the workers. I regret that this could not have been resolved sooner and had to be brought right up to the deadline where workers would have gone out on strike today and services for disabled people would have been greatly affected. This sort of last-minute brinksmanship by the Government does not take the rights of disabled people and their families into consideration. It caused a lot of stress and worry for people in recent days and weeks, which could have been avoided. I welcome reports that this agreement includes a method to deal with the question of restoring the link between these workers with equivalent pay grades in the public sector. I stress that this is key and must be got right or the Government will find itself back in the same scenario down the line. I also hope that this is not a tactic by the Government to kick the can down the road, a road it knows will, all too soon, come to an end.
Disability services, disabled people and their families have been failed by this budget. It does not commit to sufficient funding to meet the recommendations of the disability capacity review. The review lays out what is needed in real terms to meet the needs of people with disabilities over the next few years. It spells out that disability services need at least €80 million to €90 million in additional resources every year up to 2032 to allow for expected future needs and for existing unmet need across respite, residential and day services, multidisciplinary therapy services, home care and personal assistant services, yet, in the budget, the Government only provided €64.1 million towards additional measures - €55.6 million for the disability action plan and €8.5 million for the disability roadmap. That is nowhere near sufficient and will lead to the further deterioration of services. The Minister also announced that there would be capital funding of €23.7 million to provide for the upgrade and development of disability services. However, there are no specifics as to what this money is to be spent on. Regardless, it is nowhere near sufficient and will result in many people languishing in congregated settings or nursing homes who should be transitioned to appropriate accommodation either in a supported living unit or in their own homes in the community. It makes pronouncements by the Government about moving away from a medical, charity model of disability to a rights-based disability model sound very hollow indeed. The Government cannot continue to starve disability services of the funding they require to deliver the services disabled people and their families deserve and have a right to. In terms of delivering on the recommendations of the disability capacity review, in our alternative budget document, Sinn Féin committed to new measures totalling €155 million on top of what is needed to maintain existing levels of services, progress decongregation, provide additional respite and deliver further day service places. It includes supplying more intensive home support packages, funding personal assistant hours and a training and development fund for disabled persons organisations, DPOs.
For disabled people, their family carers and those delivering key services, the Government must revise its budgetary allocations for disability services. It has the money to sort this out. It cannot starve the vital services of funding they need to deliver services disabled people deserve and have a right to. The failure of this budget on disability services must be fixed. I wish to say hello to all of the people in the Gallery who are here for this evening's debate.
I welcome the representatives of the various groups that provide essential services to people with disabilities who are in the Public Gallery. This is the first motion we have tabled since the budget. We picked the area of disabilities because it is so important. It has moved from the Department of Health to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth but it is still a very important part of the delivery of healthcare and the HSE funds many of the services. There has been lots of commentary on the current budget and underfunding of health services and the very deliberate intention of the Government to not properly fund health services next year, which include disability services. All of the groups I have met are very disappointed with the overall allocation and additional spend and the fact that it will not be enough even to fund the Government's own capacity review. The review was done up to 2032; we are still waiting for a funding model. We do not know what it will be year-on-year. It seems it is at the whim of the Government every single year and in every budget. Organisations cannot plan and nor can the HSE if it does not have multi-annual funding and we do not know, up to 2032, exactly what is to be funded.
I have a number of clear questions for the Minister. One challenge we all have at budget time and is difficult for us all to understand is what exactly is in the budget and what is not. Last year, more than €80 million was made available to these funding organisations to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. I know that was classed as one-off but all of those costs still exist today. Is that money being made available this year? If not, that will be a big black hole in the funding of many of these organisations and their ability to provide services. It will bite and bite hard. That question has not been answered sufficiently yet. We have been asking; we are trying to look at what is in the budget and decipher figures but it is not clear. A very clear, unambiguous statement from the Minister is needed. Has the pot of money that was available last year to deal with the cost-of-living pressures of those organisations been given?
While I welcome that there was an eleventh hour intervention to avert the strike action, it should never have come to that.
I had a Zoom call meeting last night with many of those workers and organisations, and my party leader, Deputy McDonald, Deputies O'Reilly and Tully, and a number of others on the Sinn Féin team. We met with all of those groups and they told us that this was a dark day for disability services because no worker in any of those organisations wanted to go on strike but they had no choice because of the intransigence of the Government and Departments in dealing with their issues.
I welcome the fact that we had clarity, there was some movement on that and strike action was averted but we need a very clear, sustainable funding model for section 39 organisations. What they have said to us is that they need transparency year-on-year regarding exactly what is in budgets. Multi-annual budgets are needed so that these organisations can plan and the additional funding necessary to implement and deliver the capacity review needs to be provided. That is what they want, that is what they need and that is what they should get.
I commend the motion to the Government. I am disappointed the Government has tabled an amendment; that is wrong. The Government should have accepted our motion. I hope that the Minister and the Minister of State will provide clarity on some of those questions I have about funding, because it is very important that the groups who are in the Public Gallery and those who are listening in get answers to those questions.
I thank my colleague, Deputy Tully, not just for bringing this motion forward this evening but for all of her work in this area. We are very lucky to have such an excellent spokesperson.
My colleagues have spoken about the strike action. It is true that it was averted at the very last minute. As somebody who used to work in the trade union movement, I can tell the House that no worker ever wants to go on strike. It is absolutely the last place they want to be, in particular those who work in the community and voluntary sector and those who work in caring roles because they take that work very seriously. It was totally unfair to them and to families.
In the past two to three weeks leading up to this, I read posts on social media where people were asking if somebody would be able to come to their home and help them if the strike happened. That is the situation in which the Government placed people with disabilities and their families. They felt they had to take to social media to look for somebody who might come in to help them get out of bed in the morning. That is totally and utterly unacceptable. All those people and their families stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers in the sector that they know do such excellent work.
Time and again my colleagues and I bring examples of the real-life consequences for people and children with disabilities due to the inability of this and previous Governments to address the significant shortcomings in funding for this sector. The utter failure of the Government to prioritise services for children with additional needs and a disability, in particular, is a national disgrace. The budget should have been the one to change that. I recall the Taoiseach saying last year that he wanted to focus on children and children with poverty and make this a children's budget. That was certainly not the case when it was announced last week.
We are creating a situation, in particular for children with additional needs, whereby we nearly have a two-tier society. If I choose not to send my children to school, I will get a letter after 20 days to ask why they are not in school. If a child with an additional need cannot access a school place or cannot access transport to avail of the school place, he or she is basically just told: "Well, we're doing our best. We will have to see what we can do. Maybe we'll be able to get you a school place by Hallowe'en." There is absolutely no regard whatsoever for the impact that has on these children, their learning or their futures. Sinn Féin's alternative budget committed to implementing the recommendations of the disability capacity review to meet the unmet needs of children across the State. I reiterate the call we made for significant and sustained public investment, which is needed to address the unacceptably long waiting times for children who need assessment and vital therapy interventions.
I cannot accept that there is not a Deputy or Senator in these Houses that is not inundated with families looking for assessments and then looking for those vital services. It has gotten to the stage now where I am being contacted by schools because they are so desperate for children to get those assessments. Those same families have to turn on the news and hear that we have billions in surplus, yet their children cannot get the vital services that they need. The Disability Federation of Ireland monitors staffing on a regular basis. We can clearly see it is extremely concerned about staffing and services. It has catalogued the significant downgrading of services, which it found is having an impact on the relationship between those providing the service and service users. In response to that, what I would like to hear the plan to address these waiting lists. What is the plan regarding section 39 organisations? How is the Minister going to resolve this practically? We have given example after example in recent budgets.
Every time I meet a family that has children with disabilities or additional needs, there is a common thread, which is that they have to battle every day of their lives. They are battling in some cases to keep their child alive and to get the best prospects for their child. They are also battling the education system, the health system and the State. We need to get to a point where that no longer happens.
We are a country that is full of resources and that is putting billions of euro away in the form of wealth funds for the future, yet here and now children with additional needs and children with disabilities cannot get the basic support they need. We are talking about children who are currently in pain because the equipment they have, such as braces, no longer fit them. We are talking about children who are in wheelchairs that are too small for them, but there is no occupational therapist to come out, assess and fit the equipment that they have. We are talking about children in classrooms where the equipment is outdated and obsolete but still has to be used because there is nobody there to deal with this.
We have a major crisis in my county of Donegal. The children's disability network teams, CDNTs, have vacancies right across the board. There is only one speech and language therapist in east Donegal. There is no occupational therapist or physiotherapist on the team.
It is the stories of the families that are the most important here. I listened to families who told us their stories earlier this week. In one family there is an eight-year old daughter. They fought so hard for the baby to be present in the world. She had open heart surgery at 16 weeks old. Her intervention team is practically non-existent. They say they got no help from the HSE at all to wean her off her feeding tube.
Another parent has a child aged 11 with epilepsy. The child has very complex disabilities and is peg-fed and non-verbal. The child is a candidate for scoliosis as there is 80% curvature of the spine but is unlikely to get it because they have no support in the local area. The child's last speech and language appointment was in November 2022 and the last physiotherapy appointment was in May 2023.
The budget ensured that children like that will continue to suffer. It is not acceptable. We must end the fact that these parents are battling against the system and battling against the Government. Let us do the right thing by ensuring the proper funding is there for the services. We must change direction in the funding that is provided for disability services last week.
The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, met with some of the parents who presented yesterday in Donegal. The CDNTs have collapsed. The vacancy rate is approximately 57% in the two areas in north Donegal It is an absolute disaster and it has real implications. The presentations yesterday from parents of children with disabilities were absolutely harrowing. We had senior HSE officials, Deputies and county councillors but most important of all, the parents.
I want to put a couple of issues to the Minister and the Minister of State. Can there be an emergency fund for parents so they can go to the private sector in the absence of an occupational therapist, a speech and language therapist, a psychologist, social worker, etc.? Can there be redeployment from the primary care centres? A number of urgent interventions require national guidance for the HSE. We cannot tolerate a situation any more where the system, as Deputy Doherty said, forces families to fight. These families are trying to support their children. They are trying to be there for their children. They are tired, they are weary and they do not want to fight. None of those parents needed to come in yesterday, but that is where we are at. I urge the Minister to please intervene in Donegal and see what can be done at the highest level to sort out the problems there.
I welcome the service providers and the people they serve, as well as those workers who are in the Gallery this evening, and anyone who is watching this debate from home. I acknowledge the pain and anguish caused by the lastminute.com approach of the Government in addressing the long-standing issues around pay. I commend the civil servants and the representatives of the unions, led by Liam Berney, on drafting proposals in the early hours of this morning. One can only imagine what it was like for families going to bed last night not knowing if they would have a service to wake up to this morning.
That is on the Minister, just in case he thinks it is on anybody else, because the unions have been available for those discussions since last July.
In a Topical Issue debate here just before the summer, I spoke about the unacceptably long children's disability network team, CDNT, waiting lists that the children in my constituency face. There are close to 1,000 kids on the list. In his response, the Minister said:
The key enabler to address these figures is recruitment. We need to see therapists installed in teams to enhance capacity. As we are all aware, CDNTs are experiencing challenges in the recruitment and retention of health and social care professionals. Unfortunately, while funding has been allocated ... CHO DNCC is experiencing an average vacancy rate of 35%.
The Minister went on to say that, in Balbriggan, an area with one of the youngest populations in my constituency, the vacancy rate was 40%. That was just before the summer. The vacancy rate has since disimproved because a number of people have left. Why are they leaving? They are leaving because it is not an attractive place to work. That has nothing to do with the hours and, in some instances, it has nothing to do with the paperwork. It has to do with the fact that, every single day, they are meeting families that they are letting down. They know that the service is not addressing their needs and they are saying sorry all of the time. They were not trained to say sorry; they were trained to deliver services and work with families. That is the job that they want to do, that they love and that we need them to do. Instead, they spend all of their time apologising for shortcomings in the service and for the fact that, while a family's child needs a certain number of hours in intervention, only a tiny percentage of that is available to him or her.
The Minister's budget was a disaster for the kids in my area. They are going to be left waiting for CDNT appointments. It was a disaster for carers who need support and for anyone struggling to provide services. The Minister must realise that the allocation for disability services is not adequate and simply must be revised. People with disabilities, family carers, workers in the sector and service providers need some stability so that they can plan. That is why the unions balloted their members and what led them to strike. They wanted a sustainable funding model to enable their members to plan. The people being served should be at the heart of Government policy but, when I read its budget, it became very apparent that they were an afterthought at best and that they are not central to the thinking of this Government. People with disabilities are right to feel abandoned.
I echo the call from my colleague, an Teachta Cullinane, for the Minister to outline in detail the one-off measures to be provided to address cost-of-living pressures. If he cannot do that, if he does not have those figures and if it is not going to happen, I ask the Minister to look to the Gallery and explain in detail why the people up there and the people whom they serve are somehow exempt from the cost-of-living crisis.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue this evening. I particularly welcome the organisations and service users who are here to Leinster House tonight.
This Government is committed to providing services and supports for people with disabilities that will empower them to live independent lives, provide greater independence in accessing the services they choose and enhance their ability to tailor the supports required to meet their individual needs. Ultimately, our aim is to provide supports and services that will allow people with disabilities to live ordinary lives in ordinary places in line with commitments contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD.
I welcome the opportunity to restate my priority and that of the Government for 2024, which is the enhancement of person-centred supports and services, supporting the progressive roll-out of the action plan for disability services and the implementation of the roadmap for children’s disability services. However, before I proceed, I will briefly update the House on the outcome of the pay talks that concluded last night.
The sustainability and stability of the health and social care sectors and the impact of industrial action on essential services are areas of significant concern for me and the Government. That is why I am particularly pleased to be able to inform the House that, following intense negotiations between officials and trade unions under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission, agreement on a pay deal was reached in the early hours of this morning. This positive development has meant that industrial action due to commence today has been postponed while members consider the deal that was negotiated. I know people with disabilities and their families and all of those who avail of services provided by section 39 and section 56 bodies will have been relieved to hear that news this morning. We discussed this issue at some length in the House last Thursday and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I reiterated our commitment to find a resolution to this issue, first, because of the serious impact that industrial action would have had on service users, second, because we recognised that a long-running pay disparity existed and needed to be addressed and, third, because we know the staff in these organisations did not want to impact on service users. We welcome this agreement and the additional funding that will flow from it to improve the sustainability of many of the organisations providing services in the spheres of health and disability and the wider sphere of social care.
In recent years, significant resources have been invested in disability services and there have been significant increases in this area. This is reflected in increases in the budget for disability services, a budget which has increased from €1.7 billion at the close of 2017 to just under €2.8 billion in 2024. This year’s current funding allocation sees an additional €195 million for disability services. This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to building capacity in this area. That is alongside a capital allocation of €23 million.
The one-off funding.
I propose amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"notes that:
— this Government is committed to expanding services for people with disabilities and developing a more integrated and person-centred policy approach to disability services;
— this commitment is reflected in the budget for disability services which has increased in recent years from €1.7 billion at the close of 2017 to close to €2.8 billion in 2024;
— an additional €195 million will be invested in specialist disability services for 2024, bringing total investment to €2.8 billion;
— funding of €131 million is being allocated to ensure that the full year cost of additional services provided this year is met and funding of €64 million will provide greater investment in a range of new development measures across a range of disability services;
— while once off inflationary funding provided in Budget 2023 was not repeated in Budget 2024, the existing levels of service provision for disability services did take account of increased cost of service provision;
— the Disability Action Plan 2024 – 2026 was approved by Government in July of this year and is currently being prepared for publication and aims to progressively address unmet needs by enhancing and reforming services; and a total of €56 million in additional funding has been allocated to the implementation of Action Plan measures in 2024;
— specifically:
— €20.5 million in extra funding for disability residential services for adults and children to deliver approximately 100 new residential places;
— €10 million in respite services to build on existing provision, to provide more alternative respite such as in homes, after-school and deliver new or enhanced services to families;
— €18.2 million for placements in adult day services for 1,250-1,400 young people leaving school in 2024 and €23.7 million in funding to provide for the full cost of school leavers in 2023; and
— €2 million additional funding in personal assistant services to promote independent living, delivering around 80,000 additional hours, continued investment in home support services, and €1.4 million for specialist community supports for people with neurological impairments;
— the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (PDS) Roadmap will be published later this month and aims to achieve a quality, accessible, equitable and timely service for children with complex needs and their families;
— the PDS Roadmap will include a range of measures to enhance the recruitment and retention of staff to Children's Network Disability Teams (CDNTs);
— the Health Service Executive and its partner agencies are providing services for over 45,740 children at this time, across 91 CDNTs; and 1,300 experienced and deeply committed health and social care professionals and administrative staff across the country are working in partnership with these children and their families;
— in Budget 2024, an additional €8.5 million was provided to improve children's services, including the recruitment of additional therapy positions to bolster CDNTs (175), increasing third level places to develop additional capacity and targeted supports for specialist children's disability services;
— in addition, Capital investment of €23.7 million will provide for the upgrade and development of disability services;
— a dedicated budget in 2024 will also support a range of measures designed to further advance and implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), including the development and implementation of a new ambitious National Disability Strategy and an Autism Innovation Strategy;
— there will be a further call for funding under the Disability Participation and Awareness Fund in 2024 which will support projects across the country that will assist disabled people to participate in local and community life; and this will also include ring-fenced support for disabled persons organisations; and
— funding will be continued for employment supports for persons with disabilities through the Towards Work and Employers for Change Initiatives;
also notes that:
— additional investment in broader disability measures across Government was provided for in Estimates 2024;
— this includes employment-related supports, with a reduction in the minimum weekly hours' threshold for eligibility for the Wage Subsidy Scheme from 21 hours to 15 hours, which will help support people with disabilities into employment;
— an increase in the Carer's Allowance income disregard to €450 for a single person and €900 for a couple;
— people receiving Invalidity Pension, Disability Allowance or Blind Pension will also benefit from a once off payment of €400 in November 2023;
— a Christmas Bonus double payment to all persons getting a long-term disability payment;
— from January 2024 there will be an increase of €12 in maximum personal rate of weekly disability payments; and there will be proportionate increases for people getting a reduced rate;
— a cost of living bonus for people getting a weekly social welfare payment, to be paid in January 2024;
— Domiciliary Care Allowance to increase by €10 a month from January 2024; and
— additional funds are being allocated to the provision of free travel for people medically certified unfit to drive; and
further notes:
— the sustainability and stability of health and social care sectors and the impact of industrial action on essential services is a concern for Government; and section 39 organisations have seen overall disability funding increase from €531 million in 2018 to approximately €707 million in 2023;
— that the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Health, following intensive talks under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), have reached a pay agreement with unions representing section 39 and section 56 employees;
— that this agreement has resulted in the postponement of industrial action by staff working in section 39 and section 56 organisations as they consider the pay deal proposed; and
— that the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future contains a commitment to ratify the Optional Protocol after the first reporting cycle under the UNCRPD has concluded; the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is currently working to scope out the requirements for earlier ratification; this scoping work is required due to the long-standing position of the State in relation to honouring international agreements; and it is a priority for Government to ensure that the Optional Protocol is ratified at the earliest possible date.".
A central element of this commitment is the publication and implementation of the disability action plan, which was approved by the Government in July of this year. This plan will be a living document which will be reviewed and updated in light of priorities, policy considerations and the funding available. In budget 2024, funding of €56 million has been allocated to support the delivery of the first year of the action plan. In conjunction with the HSE, my Department is now examining the deliverables that can be achieved within the first year of the plan. The precise breakdown of measures will be set out in the HSE’s national service plan. In addition to the funding provided for the disability action plan, a further €8.5 million was allocated to support the roll-out of the children’s services roadmap, which we intend to launch by the end of this month.
I am very aware that the implementation of these strategies cannot happen quickly enough for those awaiting access to services and their families. I am confident that the allocation for 2024 will allow for crucial investment in these very important services. In response to the question raised by Deputy Cullinane, in budget 2023, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform allocated €110 million to a range of health funded bodies, including nursing homes, hospices and section 39 organisations, to address the pressures that rising prices, and energy costs in particular, were putting on the delivery of vital public services. This additional funding for the health sector provided further once-off support in 2023 for organisations that deliver important services across areas such as disabilities, older persons and mental health in the context of the significant inflationary challenges being faced. While this funding was provided on a once-off basis and is not repeated in budget 2024, account was taken of the increased cost of service provision in setting a substantially increased existing level of service, ELS, allocation for disability services this year. This is an allocation of €131 million as opposed to the allocation of €109 million in 2023.
Regarding the rights of persons with disabilities, the motion references the ratification of the optional protocol to the UNCRPD. Ratification of the optional protocol is a commitment in the programme for Government and the Government will fulfil that commitment. The timeline for ratifying the optional protocol was anticipated to begin following the conclusion of Ireland’s first review period before the UN committee. This has not taken place yet because of delays at UN level that are outside of Ireland’s control. Ireland submitted its first state report in November 2021 and we continue to await a review date from the UN committee. In light of this, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I have both indicated that we are open to the earlier ratification of the optional protocol. Our Department has already commenced the necessary scoping exercise to ascertain the requirements for ratifying the optional protocol at the earliest opportunity. This scoping work is a procedurally necessary exercise in due diligence for the State to agree to any supranational and quasi-judicial process and is in keeping with the State’s long-standing position on the ratification of internationally binding treaties. As a country that takes its international obligations extremely seriously and which seeks to act in good faith on the international stage, Ireland does not enter into binding international treaties until we are confident that the obligations set out within can be complied with.
While an exact date for ratification of the optional protocol cannot be given right now, it is my priority to ensure that ratification takes place at the earliest possible date and independent of the timeline originally envisaged in the programme for Government. Ireland continues to implement and continuously advance all rights in the convention on a mainstream-first basis through law and policy, and this will be further strengthened with the development of the next national disability strategy.
I will also address the references in the motion to the Government's strategy in relation to access to mental health services for people with disabilities. Sharing the Vision is the Government's policy framework for the continued development and enhancement of mental health services in Ireland. While it is recognised that there is an increased prevalence of mental health problems within the intellectual disability population, people with an intellectual disability can access support from mental health services in the same way as the general population, within a framework that is multidisciplinary and based on catchment area.
The mental health intellectual disability, MHID, model of care was developed to provide a national vision and strategic direction for the implementation of specialist MHID teams providing person-centred services consistently across the country. The model recognises the strengths of existing services while acknowledging the challenges that must be faced. Teams provide mental health services to people with moderate to severe intellectual disability and work together with colleagues in other mental health and disability services to provide a nationally agreed quality of care programme. The model also provides that solutions for people with intellectual disability and mental health needs lie in establishing effective partnerships between healthcare providers, service users and their carers in a community-wide context. There is ongoing significant engagement with all community health organisations, CHOs, to ensure that all possible steps are undertaken on recruitment to strengthen existing community teams.
We acknowledge that there are key challenges that must be addressed if disability services are to fully meet the needs and expectations of those that require them. In the eight months since responsibility for disability services was transferred to my Department, we have passed the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022 and fully established the decision support service. With the imminent publication of the action plan for disability services and the roadmap for children’s disability services, we are setting out a path to enable a step change in service capacity. We are developing a clear pathway forward to underpin future investment in these areas, commencing with budget 2024, and we are addressing long-standing issues like pay and equality that undermine the ability of organisations to deliver services. There are huge challenges in the field of disability but we have started to make meaningful changes. We will continue to increase investment, improve services and make lives better for people with disabilities throughout this country. I commend the amendment to the House.
Recently, I received a letter from Mr. Andrew Smith from Athboy, County Meath. Andrew is a 40-year-old man who is currently facing a severe challenge in his life. He has bravely spoken about his condition and how living in a nursing home at his age is having a detrimental effect on his mental health. At 17 years old, Andrew was diagnosed with Friedreich's ataxia, a degenerative disease that afflicts him with physical constraints and requires consistent and specialised care. Unfortunately, after the sad passing of his father who was his sole caregiver, Andrew was left with limited options. His brothers tried to take over the caregiving role but found it unsustainable due to personal and financial constraints. After exploring various care options, the HSE's Meath disability service suggested that the only viable solution would be to place Andrew in a nursing home. He has expressed significant dissatisfaction with his current circumstances, noting a negative impact on both his mental and physical health due to the lack of appropriate care and support at the nursing home for people like him. Andrew has stressed that he is well looked after by the staff but it is not his home, and this is affecting his mental health.
Andrew's case shines a light on an urgent issue in the Ombudsman's report, namely, its statement that young people in nursing homes have wasted lives. Young people with disabilities should not be inappropriately placed in elderly nursing homes. These settings are not equipped to provide the necessary physical, emotional, social and community support required by younger individuals. I appeal to the Government to address this issue and speed up an application for Andrew, which has been with the HSE for the past six months, to allow funding for a more appropriate community setting.
This year's budget failed people like Andrew. A ring-fenced annual budget should be allocated to each CHO area in order to improve the quality of life of each of these individuals, assist them in leaving nursing homes if that is their preference and support and enable them to enter more appropriate living arrangements to suit their age and needs. I also urge the Government to support Sinn Féin's motion and agree a sustainable funding model for section 39 organisations, which provide essential core services for people with disabilities on behalf of the HSE. This could help young people like Andrew live meaningful lives in their communities.
We were told that budget 2024 was going to solve all our problems but what we got was a giveaway budget that failed to address the very serious issues we have in our public services, health being chief among them. While the HSE recruitment freeze has rightly dominated media coverage in recent days, there is another sector of the health service that is on its knees. There is no sustainable funding model for section 39 organisations, which provide essential core services for people with disabilities. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, said in June that these organisations are essential in providing services, including to people with disabilities and older people in the community.
The HSE has been more than happy, it seems, to outsource large areas to section 39 organisations, including care for the elderly, disability services and substance abuse, suicide prevention and social inclusion services. The list goes on. Where is the support and the funding for the work they do? Section 39 providers are expected to bail out the State for its inability to provide services.
Everyone is giving examples of cases. I am dealing with the case of a young woman who wants to move to the nirvana of independent living. The problem is, she cannot get accommodation. While she has been told for the past two years that there is funding available for her, she cannot get it. It is a pipe dream for a lot of kids who are in this situation. We were told that 315 additional residential places were identified by the HSE in 2022 and 43 were provided. Regarding the rest, we were told that no space was available. That is less than 14% of what was needed. This young girl would take the space if it was available. The funding is supposed to be there but there is no space available. A disability group in Walkinstown has stated it has seven spaces available but the Department is not providing it with funding. I ask the Minister to examine that case because those seven spaces could accommodate seven children. We need to think outside the box and start delivering units for these young children through the development plans of local authorities.
I have raised many times in this House the number of children in my constituency of Roscommon-Galway who are on waiting lists for therapies and psychology services. It is very clear, right around the country, that the numbers are getting worse and the waiting lists are getting longer. Children and others on whatever lists they are on - and there are many - are waiting longer and longer and suffering as a result.
I must mention the children's disability network teams, which are also referred to in the motion. Many CDNTs are not fully staffed. The message I have got from parents across Roscommon and Galway is that since the model changed to the CDNTs, children who were getting some level of support from the Brothers of Charity and others are not getting any supports at all, and they are regressing. It is very difficult for parents to watch their children regress when there is nothing they can do to help them to get the basic supports they should be able to get.
In the short time I have, I will refer to the latest figures I received on primary care in Roscommon and Galway. Care in the community is also very important for young people and children. I raised this matter with the Taoiseach two weeks ago but to the Government it is as if these are just numbers because nothing changes. In County Galway alone, there are 769 children waiting to see a psychologist. Those children, who are listed as high priority, wait over one year to be seen by a psychologist. That is absolutely shameful. Children described as "generic referrals" will wait up to four years to see a psychologist. It is a disgrace that a child who needs to see psychologist must wait up to four years. It is a scandal and a shame on this Government.
Children who are turning 18 and coming off the lists get no support at all.
I have been dealing with the case of a child in Roscommon–Galway who cannot get the help she needs. She has just turned 18. The Government has not funded the roll-out of the national clinical programme for ADHD in adults, so she has been asked to see whether she can go private. Of course, the parents cannot do that. Many children, parents and families are being really let down and failed by the Government. One need look no further than the budget to see this failure.
The other group of workers who are being forced to consider industrial action today are the men and women who work at the front line of our homelessness services sector, funded under section 10 of the housing Acts. These are committed people who work with individuals and families who are experiencing very serious trauma, sometimes involving a combination of homelessness, addiction, mental ill health, domestic violence and other challenges. It is hard, challenging work, but the men and women who do it treat it as a vocation rather than a job. For far too long, they have been treated shabbily by the Government and underpaid. The services have not received adequate funding, just like the disability services my colleagues have talked about. The Government has abdicated its responsibility for providing services, giving it to another sector at a lower cost. That sector should be funded adequately.
I welcome yesterday's WRC agreement. It is a step in the right direction, but far more has to be done by the Government to ensure the workers, and crucially the people those workers support, get the services they deserve.
Each and every one of the letters I hold today has come from a user of the services of the Irish Wheelchair Association in Mullingar. They were dropped into my office yesterday by somebody who works with them. I will use their words to describe how they are feeling. The first letter states:
I am a person with a disability and rely heavily on my personal assistant from the Irish Wheelchair Association community. This support is diminishing for people like me around the country due to staff leaving and working for the HSE, as they are paid more. Staff of the Irish Wheelchair Association, a section 39 organisation, are paid less than those who work in section 38 organisations or directly for the HSE. This is causing an inability to recruit and retain staff, which means services are being reduced and people like me suffer the consequences.
The end of this letter states:
I don't know what I'll do without the Irish Wheelchair Association service if it goes. I don't want it to go. Please help.
Another letter finishes with the following: "When I have no Irish Wheelchair Association service, I'm lonely and I'm sad." Another, to me, really hits the nail on the head:
Cop yourselves on. What are you doing to the people who are looked after by the staff of the Irish Wheelchair Association who need support to live their lives? These people put a smile on our faces every day. Would you work for this money as a TD?
There is a question for the Members opposite. The reality is that the growing disparity affecting section 39 organisations has not materialised out of thin air; it has been featuring for years, and there seems to a push to have us and service users simply accept this and to have the staff simply accept doing the same work for less than that given to those in another organisation or the HSE. That is simply not on. These are vital care services. People with disabilities in our communities rely on them, as do their families, and they must be adequately and sustainably resourced. Therefore, I ask the Minister to withdraw his amendment to our motion, step up to the plate, acknowledge that the Government has got this wrong, and support this motion.
We absolutely support the motion. I will start by quoting a document I received from Rehab in response to budget 2024. The words probably encapsulate the feeling of every similar organisation, including St. Joseph's Foundation in my area and Enable Ireland. These organisations speak of their frustration and the lack of certainty that pertains to their funding and that of their sector. Rehab states:
We are concerned that there are still enormous challenges facing the organisations that provide essential services to people with disabilities. Disability service providers are left completely in the dark as to whether they will be able to continue to provide the same level of services in 2024. One area of major concern is that there is no reference to essential inflationary funding, which was provided in last year's budget.
It goes on:
There is a serious risk that, over time, voluntary organisations will be unable to fulfil their service arrangements to the HSE. The State relies on us to deliver a statutory obligation to people with disabilities but it is not providing the resources to do so.
That encapsulates the reason we are here tonight. On so many evenings, this has been a constant theme, but the difference between tonight and every other night is that the workers are at the WRC. The campaign continues and it will not stop because there is now momentum behind it. As sure as I stood with the workers in Charleville around this time last year, there is cast-iron determination to ensure they will be listened to and to seek vindication of their right to parity of esteem. We talk about parity of esteem on this island quite a bit but workers doing the same job under different contracts should have the same terms and conditions of employment. If the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, wants this country to be the best in Europe in which to be a child and if he is serious about this, he, as Taoiseach, should take the lead on this to ensure workers, no matter which organisation they work for, will have the same terms and conditions of employment.
Dr. Martin O'Donnell, who founded St. Joseph's Foundation, passed away in 2020. I remember speaking about him in this very House during a similar debate not long after he passed away. He was a great man with a great team around him. It was said of him when he set up the foundation that he was the man who brought the children down from the attic. They had been hidden from public view and were kept away. I sometimes feel as if we have, in some symbolic way, made improvements regarding the social outlets that people with intellectual disabilities have; however, have we followed through with the type of services that children, young adults and older adults need in this sector? Until we have parity of esteem whereby people are treated equally and given the same rate of pay for doing the same job, no matter what organisation they work for, we will be at nothing. It needs to happen. The campaign will not stop until pay parity is achieved and the link with public sector pay is restored. We support that. I do not believe there is anybody in this House – in government or opposition – who does not support that principle, but people like the Taoiseach who say Ireland should be the best country in Europe in which to be a child should note it must include children served by the affected workers, who work with them day in, day out. They must be treated equally if the statement is to be taken seriously. If it were not for people like Dr. Martin O'Donnell, we would possibly still be in the Dark Ages. We have still a long way to go. The recent pronouncements and public utterances by the Ombudsman for Children are proof of how far behind we are in treating all citizens equally, no matter their abilities or disabilities.
I get very confused about all the initiatives that come before us. Jesus, we have initiative after initiative, and it seems the whole system is becoming more complicated rather than more simplified. We talk about an action plan for disability services, a roadmap for children's disability services and a roadmap for service improvements. The figures do not lie. Maybe they do, actually, because I doubt the veracity of even HSE figures provided to us as Members of this House as there seems to be such fluidity in how that organisation manages the vast resources it receives from the taxpayer to deliver these very services to the people.
In July 2023, 104,095 people were waiting for services across the disciplines of psychology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, dietetics, ophthalmology, audiology. The comparative figure for June 2022 is 96,000. I do not have a figure for July 2022. If those figures are true - and I have my doubts - the figures on the waiting lists are increasing.
Let us layer on top of that the creation of children's disability network teams, CDNTs. I have been in this House for 16 years and I am still trying to interrogate what a CDNT is, how it operates, what its structures are and what the governance around CDNTs is. People are doing their best to create these teams. I know what they are. However, I do not have a sense that there is a consistent approach across the country. Some are doing well and others are not. Some have capacity and others do not. Until there is proper consistency, we will be at nothing and we will be coming back to this House to debate these issues.
I have figures and, for the third time, I say I do not know how true the figures are. They were provided to me in a reply to a parliamentary question, as were the previous figures. The number of children awaiting first contact for all CDNTs stood at 14,702 in July 2023, which is the latest figure I have. That figure speaks volumes about the number of children who still need to get in the front door. Some children are excluded, they are currently outside the front door and until they can get in the front door, we will need to see improvements. To be fair to the Minister of State, as one tries to be objective, the total number for September 2022 was 18,473. Again, I put a health warning on these figures. They are HSE figures provided by way of replies to parliamentary questions. There seems to be a reduction, which suggests there has been some improvement, but there is a long way to go. Some 14,702 children are still waiting which is too many children by any international standard.
We need to look at parity of esteem, pay parity and section 39 of the health Act. There needs to be a paradigm shift in how the HSE acts as the funder of organisations such as those I mentioned, including Rehab, St. Joseph's Foundation, Enable Ireland and all the other wonderful organisations that do such great work on our behalf. These organisations are price takers. I go back to the words of Rehab, which I think speaks for every organisation when it says there is a serious risk that over time voluntary organisations will be unable to fulfil their service arrangements to the HSE and that the State relies on them to deliver its statutory obligation to people with disabilities but it is not providing the resources to do so. We need that to be tackled.
I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion and giving us an opportunity to discuss this important issue. The Social Democrats will be supporting the motion. I did not believe the figure of €64 million of additional expenditure for investment in disability services when I first read it in the budget document. It is a pitiful investment into improving services with so much unmet need. I and my team pored through the budget document to see whether we had missed anything. I listened to the Minister of State at a press conference to see whether she could bring clarity to the matter, only to hear her announce a €195 million package for disability services. On "Prime Time" the Minister for Finance announced that the Government had provided around €200 million of increased expenditure for disability services. This figure was absolutely nowhere to be seen in the budget document I received.
A day after the budget was announced we received clarity. Ministers included funding for existing services alongside new expenditure to make the disability budget look bigger than it is. Despite all the spin, the level of investment is exactly what was outlined in the budget, €64 million. That figure represents an abject failure by the Government to invest in our disability services, a failure to address the unmet needs in the sector.
Week after week - I have been here many times with the Minister of State - we raise the crisis facing the disability sector and every time we are met with the same kind of rhetoric from the Government, which is that of course it cares, of course it is doing everything it can to improve the lives of disabled people and how dare we even question that rhetoric. However, I do question it. If the Government will not invest in disability services with a €14 billion budget, when will it? When does the Government intend to take responsibility for the people with disabilities? I have genuinely lost faith that the Government ever will.
The Disability Capacity Review to 2032: a Review of Social Care Demand and Capacity Requirements to 2032, published in 2021, quantifies the current and future need for disability support services. One of the key issues highlighted was
... significant levels of unmet need for disability services, and that changes in the size and age profile of the disability service population will add to unmet need over the coming decade. Addressing demographic change alone would not be sufficient, as the current level of unmet need is not sustainable.
An additional €550 million to €1 billion needs to be spent each year to meet the needs of a growing and ageing population between now and 2032. This funding is needed for residential services, supported housing, adult day programmes, multidisciplinary therapy services, personal assistants, respite and the list goes on. The disability capacity review outlined the situation. It was up to the Government to respond quickly and sufficiently. There have been three separate budgets since the review was published and none has come close to meeting funding targets. The Government has had the opportunity time and again to provide the funding to make long-term improvements to disabled people's lives and every time the Government has passed. There has been no plan to do anything about it since those three opportunities were passed up.
In April last year, the Minister for Health informed the Dáil that a working group tasked with developing an action plan for the period 2022 to 2025 had completed its work. A year and a half later, that action plan has not been published. Where is the plan? Where is the urgency to meet the current unmet need, not to mind future need? The Social Democrats would have allocated a total package of €534.1 million for disability services ensuring adequate funding for the huge capacity gaps in existing services. We also would have introduced a €30 per week cost-of-disability payment in addition to core increases in social welfare rates. The Government's Cost of Disability in Ireland: Research Report revealed that people with disabilities face up to €12,300 in additional costs annually for transport, fuel, equipment aids, medical expenses and much more. This report was done before the current cost-of-living crisis and we all know that for many people the added cost of having a disability is far higher than €12,300 a year. There is a substantial additional cost to living with a disability. There is an impact on individuals' and their families' quality of life and on their future prospects.
It has been ten years since the then Fine Gael and Labour Party Government axed the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant. At the time, then Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, promised replacement schemes would quickly be launched. A decade later those replacement schemes are nowhere to be seen.
The same lack of urgency apparent in the implementation in of the disability capacity review has been evident in the Government's treatment of section 39 workers. The Social Democrats has always been clear that we support pay parity for community and voluntary workers who provide many of our vital disability services. Pay parity for these workers was somehow completely absent from the budget. I am glad the strike scheduled for this morning was averted.
It is important to note that the matter was completely avoidable. Section 39, section 56 and section 10 workers went to the WRC this year, along with the State, as the paymaster, and were offered a 5% pay rise by the State. This insulting offer was rightly rejected by the unions. The pay differential between section 39 and HSE workers is estimated to be between 10% to 20%, depending on the role. There was also no offer to link their pay to the public sector, which means that when public sector pay goes up, generally yearly, section 39 workers fall further behind again.
The talks broke down in July and unions repeatedly made it clear to the State that they were willing to negotiate further, but the Government refused to engage. Left with no option, the workers balloted for strike action and gave the Government 21 days’ notice of industrial action. Again, the Government refused to engage. People with disabilities, older people, carers and section 39 workers themselves were in an incredible amount of stress over the potential strike. No one wanted to be out on the picket but no other option had been made available to them.
I was on the "Up Front with Katie Hannon" show last night. I listened to people in the audience who did not know if their personal assistant would be there this morning to help them out of bed or to get to work. Martha, a healthcare assistant from Cork, was on the show and she described an older patient she has asking her if she would even be able to get a bowl of soup tomorrow. One could be forgiven for engaging in a cynical reading of the Department's decision to wait until the last possible moment to re-engage in negotiations, after people have been put under an incredible amount of unnecessary stress and anxiety. While I have not seen the full detail of the proposal to workers, I have read about a pay increase of 8%, which falls below pay parity. The serious problems with recruitment and retention for the sector will continue for as long as there is a pay differential. The turnover in the community and volunteer sector is around 30% yearly. It is haemorrhaging staff to the HSE and agencies are spending a huge amount of money and resources on recruitment. This adds to the long waiting lists for services. The terms of the proposed settlement will be put to the membership of the unions for consideration, but the Minister of State must ensure that what emerges at the end of this process is fair and sustainable. I cannot see a way for that to occur without complete pay parity between section 39 organisations and the HSE.
Time and again, the Minister of State has come into the Committee on Disability Matters. We hear from people in that committee week-on-week about how their lives are torn apart and ruined and how there are missed opportunities for early intervention, which is the key thing in terms of whether or not you can live a full and independent life going forward. When the Department, the HSE and the Minister of State come in, hands are thrown in the air and we are ultimately told that we cannot recruit the staff. That is where the biggest problem lies in terms of access to treatments under the CDNTs and all of those things. We are told about the millions of euro that are being pumped into trying to recruit staff for the CDNTs and other disability services. Then we have a situation where there is a €14 billion budget. The biggest issue of staffing in the sector is the fact that there is no pay parity and this was not addressed or even mentioned in the budget. It is fair to say that people genuinely believe that when the Minister of State comes to meetings in all of our constituencies, etc., she cares. Everyone can see that, but when there is a budget that does not allocate anything for something like that, which has €64 million - and I genuinely thought that was a typo - it is difficult to believe that this Government will ever take the necessary steps to meet the unmet needs of disabled people in Ireland.
I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this important motion. When I read the budget, I thought there would be more money in it for disabilities. When I saw the Minister of State's announcement on the same evening, I thought there was something else in the budget that we missed. Unfortunately, it is what it is. The current funding is an additional €64 million, which, as we all know, falls short of what the Minister of State needs in order to try to make an impact on improving the lives of people with disabilities.
I want to concentrate on two things. The first is transport for people with disabilities. In 2013, the motorised transport scheme and the mobility allowance scheme were suspended. People who were on those schemes are still getting support but people who were not them after that date are no longer doing so. No other scheme has been introduced since. The Office of the Ombudsman, initially under Emily O'Reilly, producing a report and asking that something be done. It was on foot of Ms O'Reilly's report that both schemes were suspended. In 2021, Peter Tyndall produced the Grounded report in which he said that it was time to bring in a scheme to help people who need support with transport. It is now 2023, and I do not know if there is a scheme in the budget for €64 million. That is something the Minister of State might clarify.
Second, I know it is not the Minister of State's responsibility but a primary medical certificate is a matter for people with disabilities. That has been shown to be unworkable and not fit for purpose, but it has still been used to create an expectation that people will get support for the adaption of their cars when few people do. We also know the appeals board resigned because they felt the scheme was unworkable. We have failed to put an appeals board in place since then. That speaks volumes in he context of what has gone wrong.
In rural areas where you have somebody with a disability who cannot drive a car, the mobility allowance scheme was designed to give them funding to get a taxi in order to go someplace or do something that would break up the monotony of living or being imprisoned in their homes. Regardless of what we say about what we are doing with public transport, we do not have it where we need it, which is at every house where there is a person with a disability. It is no more than the matter of the section 39 workers. We all keep agreeing on it and we keep giving the platitudes about giving people hope, comfort and everything like that, and we still have not done anything about it.
On the section 39 strike and that fiasco, I mention the amount of people who have been onto me in the last two weeks, concerned about their loved ones and what would happen with them today. It went until 3 o'clock this morning until a decision was made to call off the strike. That is an example of playing Russian roulette with people who are the most vulnerable in our society and it is not a nice way to do business. The Government has to own up to the fact that this should have been sorted out last week so that people would know exactly what was going on. It is not sorted out yet. If it is not sorted out, it will be a problem for the service providers, the families of service users and the service users themselves.
The other matter I have to raise relates to the children's disability network. The Minister of State was in Tuam yesterday at the opening of the facilities we have there. Somebody started quoting the number of staff that was in CDNT 7 in Tuam, and some of the staff shouted up that we should divide that by two because that is what we really have. I was shocked, first that somebody would say this is what we have, and, second, that the staff in the HSE would say we should call a halt to this because all we are doing is creating false language in respect of what we are delivering. A large number of parents have contacted me looking for services and assessments. They are being left in the lurch and have to wait two and a half years for assessments. It is high time we decided if we will implement the UNCRPD or not. Let us stop giving people false hope.
The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable. It is 22 years since the Supreme Court ruled that the son of Kathy Sinnott, who had autism and an intellectual disability, was not eligible for schooling past the age of 18. One of the most striking headlines I ever read in a newspaper was that by Victoria White in the Irish Examiner to the effect: "Happy 18th Tom, the State has just blown out candles on your fairytale".
That encapsulated what the State was doing to many people with disabilities around the country.
The Supreme Court judgment had a far-reaching consequence for many families with disabilities. One of the questions I hear the most, and I am sure the Minister of State has heard it too, is parents asking what is going to happen to their children when they die. That sentence is repeated every year in clinics I hold and I am sure that is the case in the Minister of State's clinics. It is a question we need to be able to answer. We need to be able to give confidence to people.
The Sinnott judgment was obviously welcome for those under the age of 18, but in parts of this country, many parents are still forced to drive long distances to bring their children to school simply because of a lack of the transport necessary to bring their children to school. That is in breach of Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Ireland has ratified. It is important to put on the record that elements of the optional protocol accompanying the convention have not yet been properly ratified. One such optional protocol would allow people the option to make complaints to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities against Ireland. The State is currently preventing that.
In an email sent to me this morning, Rehab Group stated that amid the ongoing struggle, more than 12,000 adults and children with disabilities reliant on the crucial services provided by the Rehab Group are grappling with a stark reality. Many say they cannot survive independently without financial support from family. They depend on food banks to meet food bills and struggle to cope with exceptionally high energy costs. We know a significant number of people with disabilities are in a desperate struggle just to cover the costs of the most basic things in life.
Rehab, because of the financial pressures it is under, was forced to make redundant a large number of workers with disabilities in my town of Navan in County Meath in recent months. That just shows there is nearly a pincer movement of pressure currently on people with disabilities.
According to the census in 2016, 27% of homeless people had a disability. That is an important figure because it shows that successive governments have consistently neglected the disability sector and have not provided the necessary supports for people with disabilities and their families. It is a stark statistic and shows that people with disabilities are far more likely to become homeless. Incredibly, when the eviction ban Bill was coming through the Dáil, we in Aontú proposed an amendment that would ban no-fault evictions in cases of tenants with disabilities. The Government voted against that amendment, which is incredible.
I recently conducted some research into local authorities and how they are performing in respect of the provision of accommodation for people with disabilities. The results were incredible. A number of county councils confirmed to me that no meetings took place at all in 2020 to progress disability housing strategies. I made a freedom of information, FOI, request for the minutes of meetings of local authority housing and disability steering groups. Carlow, Laois and Donegal local authorities confirmed they had not held meetings. Cork County Council stated no such group existed, which is incredible.
There is a significant problem with how seriously we take the issue of care for people with disabilities in society. I know of a young woman who was forced to stay in a nursing home with older people simply because there were no carers to provide for her. An issue that has recently arisen in my own constituency is that carers working for the HSE are told they are no longer allowed to bring people for walks, be they older people or people with disabilities. Carers are not insured to bring people for walks. That is an incredible thing. We need to keep people as active and engaged with society as possible.
There is a trend in the Government's approach to care, whether for people with disabilities, older people in nursing homes, children in State care or children in childcare. We are letting down all of those sectors at the moment.
The budget came up short on many fronts but nowhere more importantly than in falling short in the funding for disabilities. Only last night, in the dying seconds, our country avoided a strike by section 39 workers who mainly work with people with disabilities. I recently met representatives of the Irish Wheelchair Association in Clonakilty, both workers and users. I also met people working in CoAction. I have spoken on the phone to workers and service users in the past week. Until yesterday, many workers were worried about going out on strike because of the people they care for. They showed respect to the people they care for who were going to be affected by the forced strike by section 39 workers. Those workers and users of section 39 organisations are treated with enormous disrespect. It is a sector the Government thinks it can kick around and get away with doing so. That was until the workers stood up to being bullied with the threatened strike.
The situation is no different from that of our early childcare workers. That sector has been kicked around, so to speak, as it is deemed by this Government a sector it does not have to recognise.
I do not know if the Minister of State has any interest in what I am saying. I am talking on behalf of the people of west Cork. it is unfortunate the Minister of State has turned away and is talking to someone else.
I appeal at every chance I can to get the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, to break down the figures for the early childcare sector but he has failed to do so to date for reasons we do not know. It was a shame to drag those section 39 workers to within minutes of a strike and allow terror around the people they care for and love.
I was elected in 2016. Almost immediately, representatives of CoAction and other providers, such as the Irish Wheelchair Association, met me on the topic of pay parity. Fast forward to 2023 and at the eleventh hour and 59th minute, and I mean the 59th minute, when the nation had turned against the Government, it pulled back. What happened in the previous seven years? Year in and year out, a solution was promised but nothing was delivered. Why has the Government such disrespect for CoAction workers? Why has it such disrespect for Irish Wheelchair Association workers? Why has it so much disrespect for section 39 workers? The way the Government treats people is appalling. The people in the Irish Wheelchair Association and CoAction work tirelessly for the people they love. It is not just in these two organisations. There are many section 39 workers in communities making meals on wheels, etc. It is time to show respect to these sectors. Just because they are working in the lower sector of our society in the Government's eyes does not mean it can walk all over them. Many of the people they care for have severe disabilities. To be honest, there has been a long litany of disrespect for people who have disabilities.
The condemnation of the budget stems from the frustration at the inaction and insufficient support provided by the Government. The disability capacity review to 2032, a critical document published in July 2021, outlined the demand and capacity required for disability and social care up to 2032. It covered various crucial aspects, including residential services, day services, personal assistants, home support, respite services, therapies and community services. However, the estimated funding allocation for personal assistants drew sharp criticism from disabled persons organisations that deemed it inadequate to genuinely facilitate independent living.
This month, my office received a response from the HSE in respect of a young child in my constituency, the parents of whom applied for an assessment to be carried out for disability services. The application for assessment was made in 2017 when the child was in senior infants. In September 2023, the mother of this child contacted me after her child had finished primary school and she could not find a suitable school placement for the child as he had not had the assessment. This issue has been ongoing for the entire time the child was in national school. They were waiting for an assessment of need. The HSE admitted to me that it misplaced the file for six years. They waited for six years and are still waiting. The child has fallen through the cracks. That went on for six years, sé bliana.
Every day of the week, my office is contacted by parents who are at their wits' end and who cannot access services or get assessments. Even when they have assessments, there are no therapists. This is a shocking situation. I am contacted by parents who cannot access respite, parents who can no longer care for their children at home without supports and who are left in the devastating situation of seeking residential places that do not exist for their children. I am contacted by parents of children with mental health concerns who cannot access child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, and who are pushed between primary care teams and children's disability network team, CDNTs. Nobody wants to take on a case so they fob it off. I am contacted by parents concerned that the respite centres are only operational part time due to a lack of funding and a lack of staffing.
Children's disability network teams, CDNTs, in south Tipperary are falling apart, with more than 1,424 children waiting for contact. That is appalling. I could go on to talk about the budget, but these families do not want to talk about the budget. They want to hear about the services they will be able to access. They have yet to receive contact from their CDNT. They want to know who will take care of their children when they pass away. Imagine that; it is so sad that people are thinking like that. They want to know their children will have an appropriate school place and that they can have respite services available, but they are not available. We can talk here all we want, but these families want action. They do not want talk. They want services. They need services and we as a country are failing our disabled citizens.
It is just shocking. The Minister of State must know that. I heard she stormed out of some meeting with officials some time ago. When is she going to take charge and ensure the volumes and oceans of money that have been going into the HSE are used correctly? It is all being syphoned off for management, management and more management and for trips, schools, offices, carpets and everything else. What is going on in there is obscene. The Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and others must take charge of this. There is no accountability whatsoever.
I could talk to the Minister of State about what happened last night. Thankfully, at 3 o'clock this morning there were good people negotiating and they called off and avoided that action. Those people did not want to go on strike, but consider the anguish and trauma the service users and their parents and siblings went through, not sleeping last night thinking they had no-one to feed, change or mind them today. How is it so chaotic that it could come down to the last hour? The Minister of State should please look after the people and not the mandarins in the Department of Health.
I will do that.
I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this very important motion to the Chamber tonight. As the Minister of State is well aware, we have a lack of residential care places for people with disabilities in County Kerry. There was some mention in the budget that 90 new centres would be opened. We have had a centre for many years in Whitefield, Beaufort in Kerry, known as St. Mary of the Angels, which was donated by the Doyle family. An awful lot of fundraising has gone on through the years to help this place develop and keep going. Sadly now, however, it has been closed by stealth. As a patient dies, that bed is closed down and not used anymore. The Minister of State is well aware of the case I brought to her regarding a person who was looking for residential care when her husband died. She could not mind the strong daughter she has of 32 or 33 years of age. The only offer of a residential care place she got at that time was in County Meath, up against the Six Counties of Ireland in the North. In fairness, I appreciate the Minister of State's intervention. I do not know if she is there all the time but she is only there on a temporary basis as such.
I am asking now that St. Mary of the Angels be redeveloped. There are a lot of dormitory-style beds and stuff like that. I am, therefore, asking for new separate units to be built on the grounds. There are acres of land there. The peace and tranquility of that place and the expertise of the care workers who are working there could not be touched anywhere else. It has been handed down to them over generations. I am appealing to the Minister of State. Whatever about this decongregation model, there is a need for a place like this where there are pools and therapies of all types to be had. It is being closed by stealth. I am asking the Minister of State not to do that on these grounds. Saint John of God Kerry Services workers have been doing great work and are doing great work as we talk today, but the place is being closed down by stealth. If we are talking about new residential care places, I ask that Whitefield in Beaufort be developed and made into a state-of-the-art place. As I said in the first place, it was donated by the Doyle family. A whole lot of voluntary work has gone on and much fundraising has been done over the years.
I thank the Deputy.
We cannot let that place close down. I am appealing to the Minister of State now.
I thank the Deputy.
She is saying it will not. I am asking her to address it. Will it be one of the places the Government talked about in the budget? It has to be.
I thank the Deputy. Deputy Joan Collins is sharing time with Deputy Connolly.
I welcome the groups in the Public Gallery this evening who have come to listen to the debate. I thank Deputy Tully for bringing this motion forward.
I congratulate and express solidarity with the section 39 workers who deal with health and disability services, the section 56 workers who deal with services to children, and the section 10 workers who deal with homeless services. They have won an important step forward in their ongoing struggle to have their work properly recognised and compensated and their services properly funded.
I do not know the full details of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, offer that was made in the early hours of this morning. The 8% is not pay parity, however. The workers are going to have to look at exactly what the offer is and make their minds up in the voting that will take place.
I know how hard the decision was to go out on strike and risk suspending services, but they knew that without action, the situation would deteriorate and services would continue to worsen. This situation did not need to happen. The Government knew what needed to be done and eventually went to the WRC at the last minute. There was no need to put such serious stress on workers and the people to whom they provide the services.
The next step in my mind must be full pension rights for these workers. These workers are not classified as public service workers and do not have public service pensions. There is a disgraceful double standard in community and service workers between the private and public sector. They deserve to have their work valued and properly compensated both while in work and after work in their retirement.
Section 39 workers are particularly important to this debate because the strike was not just to be about pay and conditions. It was about defending services for people who need them the most. Budget 2024 was a hard blow to people with disabilities. The Disability Federation of Ireland called this a “devastating sidelining of disabled people”. Its CEO, Mr. John Dolan, said that, “The measures introduced today do not come close to meeting the needs of people with disabilities.” That is really what this budget was about: a little bit for everyone, a lot for landlords and not enough for any of the change people desperately need. This is a budget that will continue to keep thousands of people with disabilities in poverty. It will continue to leave thousands not being able to make ends meet.
As the Minister of State knows, one in five people with disabilities lives in poverty, which is almost four times the national average. Some 44.3% live in deprivation. Earlier this year, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul found that the number of disabled people living in poverty almost doubled from 2021 to 2022. People with disabilities are some of the most economically vulnerable people in this country. That so many live in poverty, deprivation and energy poverty is a disgraceful failure of our State’s ability to look after those most in need.
The average annual cost of disability is between €8,700 and €12,300. The €500 cost-of-disability grant introduced last year has been discontinued. The Minister, Deputy McGrath, said "it is important that we acknowledge that persons living with a disability face additional costs". This budget clearly does not recognise that fact.
The €12 core social welfare increase is a pittance compared with the inflation and cost-of-living increases people have seen over recent years. Most groups working in areas like disability supports, elderly care and anti-poverty were calling for €25 to €30 just to stand still and stop more people going into poverty. This is one of a series of budgets that has left people on social welfare behind. This is a political choice to lower the standard of living for people who rely on social welfare and put more people into poverty.
This obviously increases the chances of people in disabilities falling into poverty, especially as they are more than three times more at risk of poverty than the national average. We have still not had sight nor sound of the Government making any serious effort to ratify the optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, despite several commitments to do so. I listened to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, speak tonight. He still could not give a timeline with regard to that. Of course, the Minister of State knows that if the Government were to ratify it, it would finally be held account for the poverty, underfunded services and complete lack of employment supports people with disabilities face in this country.
This complete lack of caring for the crises facing our country is also reflected in this budget’s provisions for the health service. A figure of €800 million this year when we underfunded our health services by more than €2.5 billion last year is a disgrace. This is a political choice to allow our health service to get worse, allow more people on trolleys, longer waiting lists and more people to receive substandard care because of lack of services caused by underfunding. Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha came out very strongly on this and her concerns for accident and emergency departments, etc., throughout the country coming into the winter. This will have a massive effect on both patients and staff. We will see cutbacks for plans for cancer care, plans for youth and adult mental health care and trials for new drugs.
I thank Sinn Féin for the opportunity to speak on this. I welcome the progress made in the talks. However, I deplore the fact that, when I was watching television last night, people with disability had to appeal in such a manner on a television programme. That is just one example, as the Minister of State knows, of different programmes, including on the radio, appealing to us to implement the rights that they are entitled to. I know the Minister of State has inherited the situation and I have often paid tribute to her. Her heart is in the right place. One despairs after a while of making the same speeches over and over again.
If I look at where all of this started, with the division from the people working directly for the Health Service Executive, it was when we started to commodify the caring services. The Progressive Democrats took that to a whole new level. We talked about products. I say that from ten years of experience of sitting on the health forum, where Fianna Fáil, unfortunately, was led by the Progressive Democrats with regard to the privatisation of our services. The figures speak for themselves. Some 80% of nursing homes are private and 20% are public. It is similar with our home care services. We have outsourced them to the non-profit sector and indeed the profit sector. When I look at this and ask what I am going to say and how one keeps doing this, then, as usual, I remind myself that I am earning a good salary, have a privilege, can use my voice, and I start to look at the reports.
We have so many reports. We have had the Indecon report and we are all waiting for the report on the cost of disability payment. It is the most basic thing that should have been brought in with the budget but it was not brought in. We know the price estimate from Indecon for somebody who has a disability goes up to €12,000 or €13,000 per year. All the Opposition asked for was, at the very least, to bring in the cost of disability payment. That is not a reality.
I looked at the report by TASC, the think-tank, and The Wheel. It gives us a background in the latest report. There is a history of reports. The report tells us that, in 2018, the executive of The Wheel pointed out a chronic trend of losing staff and being unable to retain staff. In June 2019, there was a report called Breaking Point: Why Investment is Needed Now to Ensure the Sustainability of Quality Services for Children and Families, which was commissioned by Barnardos. In May 2021, Fórsa commissioned a report, authored by Brian Harvey, entitled A New Systemic Funding Model: The voluntary and community sector in the 2020s. The reports outlined the problems and what is happening and put that Government on notice. I am only going from 2018. I could go further back if I had more time.
This report from 2023 refers to the perpetuation of the two-tier pay and resource allocation system and the effect on staffing. It clearly sets out the effect on staffing, the low morale and the constant lack of staff. That is among the staff. Can the Minister of State imagine what it is doing to services on the ground? In Galway, many people have come into my office, at their wits' end, about not having services, respite and so on. This report was produced earlier this year. It has practical recommendations. I have not heard the Minister of State or any Minister refer to them and whether they have taken the recommendations on board.
I refer to the part of the report entitled, "Conclusion: Policy Recommendations". There are 14 recommendations. No. 14 is: "Raise the status of the sector by recognizing within policy that without it, the State would be unable to deliver necessary services to the most vulnerable populations." I would like to move away from the words "vulnerable" and "victims". People deserve services as a right. We pay taxes so that we can have a country that provides services as a right. How many more reports do we need?
Maybe the Minister of State could deal with the policy recommendations from this report, which essentially refers, as my colleague did, to providing funding for pensions, training, travel and other costs, to make the delivery of not-for-profit work more attractive. These services should be provided by the State but a decision has been made to use the community and voluntary sector, which is difficult enough for me when the State is abdicating responsibility and pushing it out. On top of that, it is helping the profit companies to make more profit. I would like any changes that are made to have a view to long-term, sustainable, not-for-profit services. I do not know why we have to keep setting up services with more CEOs and so on. That is the position that we have arrived at. At least there is a substantial number of non-profit services.
More than 20% of my constituents in Clare have a disability. For those constituents, the guaranteed constant from this and previous Governments has been delay, delay and further delay. This includes the very first instance of the delay in the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities many years ago and the further delay of the ratification of the optional protocol, which we know is absolutely unnecessary. There is a delay in the disabled drivers and disabled passengers scheme, the lengthy wait for approval of personal assistance services and the further delay in securing people to fill those service gaps, and the many children who are languishing on waiting lists for assessments of need, who cannot access services and supports. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte's determination with respect to both personal assistance services and assessments for our children.
However, I am deeply concerned and acutely aware that, until early this morning, we were teetering on the knife edge of having services for our most vulnerable stopped in their tracks. It should not have come to this. It should not have been an eleventh hour negotiation. I am in no way saying that the matter is resolved.
People with disabilities in Clare ask where the prioritisation of people with disabilities is. Let us look at last week's budget. We recognised the need for a cost of disability payment. That came in the form of a one-off payment last year of €500. This year, we have dropped the word "disability" from the title, which is a significant step for recognition, and dropped €100 from the payment. What happened there? We waited long enough for a report to quantify the cost of disability, which was acknowledged in the Indecon report and the recent Green Paper, which stated that it can cost more than €12,500 per year, and yet there are no such cost of disability measures in budget 2024. It is important to note that today is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which is apt for today's statements. Unfortunately, it seems that Ireland has made no progress on that front. With this budget, the Government has consciously decided to keep people with disabilities side-lined. Meanwhile, Ireland is at the bottom of the EU league table for disability employment rates.
I have stated many times in this House that years of hurt need to be rectified for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, that relationship has not been nurtured by Government. There has been a lack of meaningful reform to address their concerns. I would like to see Ireland be the kind of society that we all want to be part of, where our most vulnerable are not just tolerated but cared for and respected. There is a big job to be done. Is this Government preparing to do that work?
I wish to thank the Members of this House for raising this important issue and providing me and my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, with the opportunity to have this discussion this evening. I also welcome to the Gallery the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, FEDVOL, St. Christopher's Services, Cheeverstown, the Disability Federation of Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association, and Rehab Group. I also acknowledge any individuals or families who are looking in along with the new organisation, the Leaders Alliance.
It is crucial that disability services and supports are adequately funded so that the good work of our service providers can continue to be delivered to the highest possible standard. This has been a high priority for Government. In recent years, one would be forgiven for thinking tonight that this Government has invested nothing since I took this office in 2020. In the budget that landed last week, €700 million has been invested into disability services. That sits solely and speaks solely to me. That is for complex disabilities. In 2023, for example, €1.85 million was provided for more than 70,000 extra personal assistance hours. Funding was provided for five additional respite services and an increase of one service from part-time to full-time.
Furthermore, we have been able to make yearly provision for our school leavers, providing for, on average, 1,250 new day service placements each year.
We are doing more year on year and are seeking to do it better. Last year, our ELS was €109 million and our new developments were €29.3 million. It is important to look at the facts in the round. This year, our ELS has been €131 million, which I have been continuously criticised about, but that was an increase of 7.6% on last year. Our new development for this year is made up of €64 million. When people ask about ELS, it is important to put what it is made up of in context. It is the full year of our new measures.
On the previous year's new measures, in last year's budget I introduced €23.7 million for school leavers. There was social farming and a residential pilot, which everybody talks about, for supported independent living. I put that into the budget last year. I hope to grow on that this year and expand it in CHO 9, with St. John of God's. I have put in funding for Tusla, community neurorehabilitation and the ChildVision project, which involves specialist disability support for children. That was €30 million. There was another €83 million in the ELS allocation for residential, changing needs, Tusla placements, decongregation, intensive care support packages and children's services non-pay cost. I also had to make provision for Building Momentum. That is the make-up of the €131 million.
In 2021, I published the disability capacity review to 2032. As Members all know, this report sets out estimates of unmet need and demographic change, demonstrating the extra capacity required in disability services to 2032. The programme for Government commits to working towards implementing the recommendations of the review. To help drive this process, a detailed action plan was developed and approved by the Government and is currently being prepared for publication. This action plan will represent the first phase of implementation of the capacity review's recommendations. As the Minister said, the publication of the action plan, as well as the roadmap for children's disability services, will be keenly anticipated by people with disabilities and their families. For all watching, the PDS disability roadmap will be published next week. This is why the priority for budget 2024 will be to support the progressive roll-out of the action plan for disability services and the implementation of the roadmap for children's disability services through a focus on the enhancements of person-centred supports and services.
The Minister noted that of the €195 million in additional funding provided for disability services in 2024, €131 million will go towards supporting the existing level of service. That means adding it into the base. It is important to clarify that the remaining €64 million is largely geared towards delivering this action plan. This includes the following measures: €20.5 million for residential places; €10 million to increase the funding in respite; funding for 1,400 additional school leavers; increased funding for personal assistance and home support; €1.4 million for community neurorehabilitation teams; and an additional €8.5 million for children's services, which I will touch on shortly. This funding represents a good start in addressing the capacity review and builds on substantial extra funding in recent years. It is important to emphasise that our plans to increase capacity in disabilities are long term and multiyear. We will seek to continue to increase the funding for this area in order to ensure that unmet needs are addressed.
As well as funding, we will need to ensure that our service providers are adequately staffed and have the necessary resilience and seamless delivery services to support people with disabilities. Deputy Cullinane touched on the issue of once-off funding. At the moment, there are 700 unfilled vacancies. That equates to €56 million. I say to every service provider, when they are doing their service level agreement, SLA, that it is an opportunity to discuss the costs within their services. This area of the workforce is of higher importance and one that I have been paying particular attention to recently. To help support the delivery of the action plan for disability services, I have convened a high-level working group to drive workforce planning for specialist disability services, acknowledging the need for system-level workforce projections, and to explore innovative ways to expand the disability workforce in the short term as well as engaging on medium-term planning. This group will link in, as appropriate, with other bodies engaged in examining different aspects of the health and social care workforce.
Other significant work is ongoing in this area, especially children's services, where ongoing recruitment difficulties have impacted on the ability to deliver a satisfactory service. In budget 2024, an additional €8.5 million has been provided to: improve children's services, including the recruitment of additional therapy positions to bolster the CDNTs; increase third level places to develop additional capacity; and facilitate targeted supports for specialist children's disability services. These targeted initiatives are designed to provide specialist supports for children and address potential gaps in services for families by augmenting the CDNT capacity for centralised supports on issues such as hearing and visual impairment, motor function and dyspraxia. To complement this funding, significant efforts are ongoing in the HSE on recruitment at international and local level. These include: bespoke disability recruitment campaigns; targeted recruitment campaigns to recruit staff grade and senior clinicians, both national and international; recruitment of consultant paediatricians with a special focus on neurodisability; and sponsorship initiatives to increase the attractiveness of employment in the disability sector. The publication of the PDS roadmap next week will help to further support a drive for improvements in this area.
The systemic sustainability and stability of organisations in the health and social care sector is, therefore, a significant concern for the Government. I understand these challenges and recognise the ability of voluntary organisations to pay their staff, and to deliver services effectively and safely, is highly dependent on the State funding they receive. Staff recruitment and retention challenges are not new or unique to these organisations, but I remain committed to effectively working with all relevant parties to resolve these systemic issues.
As mentioned by the Minister, we are delighted to have been able to reach agreement with unions late last night in respect of the pay deal for the sector. I acknowledge the work of my assistant secretary general, Colm, and colleagues James, David, Anthony and Gary, along with the representative bodies, for the constructive and positive engagement in these talks. I am very hopeful that the offer put forward will be accepted by members. It was not just an offer of pay. There is the piece regarding the alignment of pay in future. For the benefit of anybody who thinks it all only happened from 2 p.m. yesterday, a lot of work was going on in the background to make it happen. From my engagement with service users and families, the announcement of potential service disruptions caused significant distress. Thankfully, this has been averted and service provision continued today.
As mentioned last week, I have also secured an additional €9 million in one-off funding for the delivery of bespoke transport and mobility initiatives, on which I will provide more detail in the coming weeks.
I previously indicated I am open to all options when it comes to supporting parents accessing services for their children, with the issue of assessments of need frequently raised with me. My hope is to establish a ring-fenced support mechanism in the coming months, which supports parents who access assessments of need privately. I hope to have more information next week. On the battle that Deputy Doherty spoke about, I hope that he and his colleagues will support me when I bring forward these developments.
I will also meet with my colleagues in the Department of Education over the coming weeks regarding the ongoing roll-out of therapies in special schools. The approach taken by St. Patrick's Special School in Wexford in recent weeks is something that can be used in other schools as an interim measure while assistant therapists are being recruited. Again, I will provide funding for this and more details will follow in the coming weeks.
The motion referenced matters that fall under the remit of Departments other than mine. I acknowledge the good work done by colleagues across the Government to improve the lives of people with disabilities. There are measures to improve access to employment through supporting jobseekers and employers from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and measures to improve the accessibility and affordability of public transport from the Department of Transport. I acknowledge the work the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, did in extending the incapacitated tax credit, as well as the increases made by the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, to the disability and carer's allowances.
The Minister also reduced the eligibility threshold for the wage subsidy scheme from 21 hours to 15.
For the section 39 organisations watching this evening and concerned about the impact of any recruitment freeze on them, the HSE has confirmed to me that within the controls introduced there are mechanisms for approval to fill the priority posts. Mr. Bernard Gloster will meet me, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and officials in the Department next week to ensure the recruitment freeze will not impact disability.
Debate adjourned.