I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for permission to raise on the Adjournment the urgent need for funding for a full-time rehabilitation worker in Tipperary to meet the needs of the blind of the county. Many advances have been made in recent years as regards disability in our community; and in the lifetime of the last Government much work was done, in terms of legislation and provision of resources, to ensure that more than lip-service was paid to the needs of the disabled. It is one thing to state a commitment to the needs of the disabled and to acknowledge verbally that the blind, for instance, should have our full support — and over the years, successive Ministers and Governments have done just that — but the previous Government and the former Minister, Mr. Mervyn Taylor, were prepared to argue that we should put our money where our mouths are. I pay tribute to the former Minister for the work done in that regard.
During his time in office, the report Towards an Independent Future was published. It recommended, inter alia, that rehabilitation services for visually impaired persons should be improved and, towards that end, that each community care area should have available to it the services of a rehabilitation worker with expertise in visual impairment. The National Council for the Blind of Ireland is anxious to progress this commitment — as am I, which is why I have raised this matter — through an increased provision of such workers throughout the country, particularly in Tipperary NR and Tipperary SR. Currently these areas are the responsibility of one worker who must drive huge distances to perform her work. The level of her commitment should be publicly acknowledged. The nature of her work and the mix of younger and older clients demand an immediate increase in her service, by separating the two parts of Tipperary into two community care districts and allocating a worker to each area on a full-time basis. That is why I call for funding for a full-time worker in Tipperary NR.
The current cost of meeting the provision on an annual basis would be approximately £28,000 per worker for each part of the county, which includes travelling and associated expenses. At present the level of grant for each part of the county is only one-sixth of what is required. The NCBI, locally and nationally, is meeting the salary of this worker and I ask the Minister to respond to this funding requirement to meet the needs of the blind in Tipperary NR.
