I thank the Minister for coming in at this late hour. After such an exciting day he can see what a packed Chamber we have.
I hope when I leave public life that if I have done nothing else I will have left my mark not only on the services of the mentally handicapped in Clare but also in some way at national level. I remember 19 years ago, when I was the back-up to another person then serving in public life, I saw this dreadful gap in this nation when there was no service whatsoever for the mentally handicapped. It was in that way that I became involved. This is a little unusual for somebody who has nobody in the family who is mentally handicapped. People at conferences and with the national association with which I am affiliated are usually parents or relatives of mentally handicapped children. I have a lot to be thankful for to God and this is a field in which I will continue to serve.
We have an extraordinary set up in dealing with the mentally handicapped. The Department of Health, the Department of Social Welfare, the Department of Education, the OPW and the Department of Finance are all involved. If ever there was a case for one Minister for one section in our community it is certainly in the field of the mentally handicapped. If it is not done by this Government it might be done by the next Government. It is something that I will talk about again. If such an appointment were ever made I would hope we would not have the confusion we have in the Department catering for youth at the moment where the junior Minister does not know what the senior Minister is doing. We have all the schools, workshops, aids and grants, and trying to deal with them is really impossible.
I will certainly give credit to the Minister because the services which exist for the mentally handicapped are probably the best in the world. Unfortunately we have not yet reached out to give all the essential facilities that should be available to all mentally handicapped people. Parts of the country have no services at all; that is quite common and the Minister is aware of it. Normally where there is a good service it is where there is a very good back-up organisation at local level. The Acting Chairman who is from my own constituency is well aware of what I am talking about. If you get the people to support you, eventually the politicians see commonsense and then you get the service.
Some mentally handicapped people have to live in special residential care centres where care and development services will be available to them. It is estimated that 1,500 extra places are needed and the majority of those have not yet been provided. The working party report also draws attention to the fact that some 2,500 mentally handicapped people are in psychiatric and geriatric institutions. I have got into trouble locally and at conferences because I feel so strongly that no mentally handicapped child or adult should be in a mental hospital. I have the greatest regard for the people serving in the field of mental illness but in 1983 we should not have mentally handicapped children in wards in our mental hospitals. I am not putting the blame on the Minister here tonight. I am blaming successive Ministers. Because I have gone on record in making that statement I have not been popular in certain areas with certain professional people. Popularity does not worry me once I have the popularity in the right circle to enable me to make a case here for mentally handicapped people. I am not worried about my popularity with certain professional people.
I referred earlier to residential units. I have reservations about these big impersonal institutions like Swinford and Loughlinstown. I have seen the smaller unit work. I have bought houses and put the children into them and I have seen them going to school and going into a workshop situation. I am sure the Minister knows that I am right in this. Nobody will sell me the big institution again for mentally handicapped children and for the young adult.
What worries me is the embargo on the recruitment of staff for the services of the mentally handicapped, together with the compulsory reduction of numbers of staff in the service. In March 1983 we had a cut of 2 per cent and I understand a further 3 per cent cut is being mentioned. That is too great a cut-back in a service where there is still much to be done. I am not being dramatic or unreasonable.
No Minister for Health in recent years has shown as much concern so quickly as the Minister here tonight. He has singled out the service of the mentally handicapped. For that I am grateful. The National Association for the Mentally Handicapped are grateful to the Minister. We may be able to help him at the Cabinet table to leave the service and take another look at the staffing. I would worry about the reaction of staff coming in and serving in the field who would not be as committed as old staff were. If we keep cutting back and asking them to do more with less staff there probably will be a deterioration in services, something which I would not like to see. It is a most satisfying field to serve in and people are very grateful.
The stigma that has attached to having a mentally handicapped person in a family is gone. There is no such thing as a mentally handicapped boy or girl or teenager being down in the lower bedroom of a farm house. Years ago if you were not in the right party they hardly produced the child at all. They are coming to one now almost with a joy and pride and it is because the service has been laid on.
I understand that the Government may be considering a reduction of expenditure in some areas. I know how rough it is going to be to leave the money and to try to give the service that we need. With the cutting back of staff it is a field where we may not have such committed people coming in and serving. If we had any hassle it could spread very quickly and I would worry greatly about it.
In Ireland it is possible for anyone who is ill to have access to a full range of medical services. For the mentally handicapped that is not possible and it is an indictment of society to have to say that. I appeal to the Minister to try to provide more and not fewer resources for this marvellous and valuable section of our people. We call on him and the Coalition Government to adopt reasonable and clear-cut policies for the development of a comprehensive and caring system which will provide the disabled people of Ireland with a lifestyle to which they are entitled. We hear about constitutional rights but I am not going to go into rights. I thank the Minister for coming in here tonight. It again shows the concern there is, although the Chamber is almost empty. I appreciate that it is late but 10.30 p.m. is not too late for a debate on this subject, to which people pay such lip service when it suits them.
I sincerely thank the Leader of the House, Senator Dooge, for remaining for my few words, and also Senator Fitzsimons. It is a pity that people who pay lip service to this matter thought 10.30 was too late to take this motion. I ask the Minister not to cut the money, and if there is anything the voluntary bodies who are serving in this field, and the National Association for Mentally Handicapped, can do to strengthen the Minister's hand at the Cabinet table, he can call on me and I will see what we can do. I again sincerely thank the Minister for coming here.