Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
45. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way in which a young college graduate with very severe physical disabilities can secure adequate and appropriate personal assistant support to enable them to become gainfully employed, pay taxes and participate as a fully functioning member of society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47470/23]
View answerMy question highlights the need for adequate and appropriate personal assistant, PA, support for a college graduate who worked through college and now wishes to get a job but is finding it very difficult to get adequate and appropriate, including age-appropriate, personal assistant support. What does the Minister of State have to say about the personal assistants support and service? Does she agree it is vital for people with disabilities?
I absolutely agree it is vital for people with disabilities. That is why the Government has added 270,000 additional hours in the past four budgets. We have increased PA by 15% of what is there already. I totally agree that PA is important not just for accessing education, but also ensuring that as a person steps out of education, he or she can step directly into employment.
The HSE personal assistant service was developed to provide a service for adults with physical disabilities that enables them to live their lives as independently as possible and take decision-making control. The person with the disability either directly employs the PA or is involved in the process of selecting the PA to work with them. The person with the disability determines the support need and the activities with which they need to support. The Deputy is correct. It needs to be adequate and age appropriate and meet the needs of the individual. That is important.
In 2023, approximately 1.8 million PA hours will be delivered to more than 2,600 adults throughout the country. PA support is a priority for me and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, as part of our disability capacity action plan that we will publish in the coming weeks. We want to increase the number of young people accessing employment. We need to move from the bottom of the row and stop being laggards when it comes to people with disabilities accessing employment. The only way we can do that and be an enabler to that is through adequate PA support.
I thank the Minister of State for her response. I commend her and the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, on their work in this area.
Is the Minister of State aware of what the unmet need is for personal assistance, PA, services in the country? Has any work been done on that by any agency, her Department or anyone else? We know how many hours are being provided, and I am delighted to see an increase, but what is the unmet need out there? The Irish Wheelchair Association says that work needs to be done on this, perhaps with the Central Statistics Office. Has that been done and are there any plans to do it? Is there a ring-fenced budget for the provision of personal assistance services to people? What is the budget for this particular service? I also ask the Minister of State to outline whether there is a standardised method of allocating hours throughout the country.
The Deputy has asked a lot of very matter-of-fact questions. It is recognised that there are inconsistencies among disabled people in accessing PA support. That is why we have established a PA review group within the Department to develop a protocol for the eligibility and allocation of personal assistance services based on a universal agreed definition of personal assistance in collaboration with my Department, disabled people and service providers. Work has started on that. When I came into the Department, €40 million a year was set aside for PA support. That has increased substantially over the last number of years, and we will continue to focus on increasing it. On the number of people and the unmet need, we have the figures but I just do not have them in front me. As I have said, supporting 2,600 disabled people is not meeting the need that is there.
I thank the Minister of State for her response. I know her heart is in the right place. Perhaps she will send me on the figures she says she does not have in front of her regarding the unmet need and the research behind that to find out what the unmet need is. I welcome the fact that a PA review group is working on this in the Department. When does the Minister of State expect this review group to report to her? Is it going to be this year or next year? I ask her to outline the make-up of the group and who is involved in it. If she does not have the information with her at the moment, perhaps she can send that on to me. What is the actual budget for PA for this year?
The Deputy is putting me on the spot as to what the actual budget is for this year. I believe it is €2.5 million. In 2020, 40,000 additional hours were added; in 2021, 40,000 additional hours were added; and in 2022, 120,000 additional hours were added. In 2023, 70,000 were added, and the Deputy has asked why there has been a drop. To be quite honest, it was to do with the recruitment of staff. The budget is going up to €2.5 million again, which equates to between 70,000 and 120,000 hours. Hopefully, that will bring more people on board. With the move from one Department to the other, we are also trying to clarify that PA is not home support. In some community healthcare organisations PA was diluted into home support. We are trying to take away the fog. That is why the PA group has been set up.
