I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion and giving us an opportunity to discuss the mother and baby institutions redress scheme. The make up of the scheme is very disappointing. It is exclusionary rather than inclusive. People who were resident in mother and baby institutions for six months or less are deeply disappointed and distressed to find out that they remain excluded from the scheme. Inclusion and equality are clearly missing from the proposed scheme. It seems to be more about achieving reduced …

I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, on introducing this motion. We have had 712 domestic electricity and 309 domestic gas disconnections in the first half of this year. Something needs to be done immediately. The Government's rejection of the Sinn Féin proposal to reduce and cap electricity prices at pre-crisis levels was a big mistake. It leaves hard-pressed households exposed to additional hikes and to the prospect of disconnection. As families face a long winter, they worry that they will not be able to kee…

There are a number of positive elements to the Bill that will help in improving the current system. These include the index-linking of wage thresholds to keep them in line with salary growth and the provision for additional conditions for granting an employment permit, such as training and accommodation support for migrant workers or making innovation or upskilling a condition of granting, which may decrease future reliance on economic migration. Sinn Féin supports the fair and sensible use of employment permits wh…

A nine-year-old autistic boy called Harry who attended an autism class in his local primary school is now facing expulsion. An incident occurred last Thursday week which caused him to have a meltdown. He and his mother were waved off from school afterwards by the principal and his class teacher who said "We will see you tomorrow", only for his family to receive an email that night stating he was suspended pending a board of management meeting to consider expulsion. Harry had been progressing well in school. He is n…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — Budget 2023 has failed to resource and fund disability support services and infrastructure that the Government itself has identified as essential to meet current and future unmet need for children and adults; — the Government's additional Budget 2023 allocation of €29.3 million to build capacity in disability services falls woefully below the recommendations of the Disability Capacity Review to 2032 - A Review of Social Care Demand and Capacity Requirements to 2032 - …

I thank all the Deputies who contributed to this discussion of disability services and the Minister and Minister of State for remaining here for the two hours. That is appreciated. It is evident from the contributions that disability services are at an all-time low and there is need for immediate action to address the problems within the services and unmet need as outlined in the disability capacity review published last year. I again call for this disability capacity review action plan to be published without dela…

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, general comment on Article 9, accessibility, sets out that it is a precondition for persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully and equally in society. Without access to transport, among other facilities and services, persons with disabilities do not have equal opportunities to participate in society. The UN committee also notes that the physical inaccessibility of public transport and other facilities is a major factor in…

The stated aim of Housing for All is that everyone in the State should have access to a home, to purchase or rent at an affordable price, that is built to a high standard, in the right place and offers a high quality of life. The reality for most falls well short of that. Every week in my constituency office I have people coming in who are facing eviction. They are frantically looking for a private rental and cannot find one. There is nothing available or very little. Anything that is available is totally unafforda…

Disabled persons organisations and disability representative groups have called for more clarity on how the budget is actually broken down. The Minister of State provided some of that this evening but if we could have an even more in-depth view, it would be welcome. Even the Parliamentary Budget Office could not provide much clarity to me today. One figure the Minister of State gave was the €11.7 million to deal with the backlog of assessment of needs. Has she a timeframe for how that will be dealt with? She said p…

I ask the Minister for an update on the progress that has been made to date on the review of the disabled drivers and passengers scheme.

As the Minister said, all the members of the Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal resigned at the end of last year after expressing repeated concerns that the criteria for access to the scheme were way too stringent. The Minister said he is in the process of putting a new board in place but there are mounting numbers of people awaiting appeal and they are being left in limbo with nowhere to turn. The transport working group met in January and the Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility…

I raise the issue of the home care cash grant, which is administered by the HSE. It is offered to older people who have been allocated home care hours but for whom the HSE has failed to recruit staff to fulfil those hours. Therefore, the onus is put on older people or their spouses to advertise for carers and to recruit them. This means, potentially, bringing strangers into those people's homes and having cash on hand to pay carers. Recipients of this support are then meant to reclaim their money through the grant.…

While there are aspects of this Bill that need further consideration and work, there is so much of it I welcome. Specifically, I very much welcome the inclusion of an online safety commissioner within the proposed media commission, whose role will be to address the proliferation of harmful online content. This is very welcome and needs to be given appropriate compliance and sanction powers to deal with the serious threat of harmful online content. There are so many positives to using the Internet and online content…

I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, for tabling this important motion. The Government's retrofit plan is not equitable. It excludes a large proportion of middle-income households, specifically those who do not qualify for free upgrades but do not have the significant cash reserves needed to access the one-stop shop service. The prioritisation of wealthier households also contributes to the growing delays for those living in energy poverty, as evidenced by the better energy warmer homes scheme. The scheme is aime…

I thank People Before Profit for tabling this motion. Reducing rents in the private rental sector should be central to the Government's aims but it seems that a continuation of pro-developer subsidies is the main concern. The option of renting is impossible for more and more people. The latest report from Daft.ie states that rents increased by 11.7% across the State in one year, from the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022. In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, rents increased by 18.6% in Cavan and 1…

Are personal assistants hours in further and higher education provided based on the needs of the disabled person or is there a rule in the Department that there is an allocation of one personal assistant per student?

I thank the Minister. The case I am asking about is that of a young man with quite a complex disability who has identified a course he is interested in doing. The college has been very accommodating in meeting him and making sure it is accessible. The Minister has mentioned part-time courses and I believe he will be allowed to take longer to do the course. This is something that should be considered with regard to disabled people and people who suffer from chronic pain. It is something that has been raised with me.…

I will get the permission of the student concerned and pass on the details of the case on to the Minister. I wish to raise another issue. Sometimes the contracts concluded between colleges or further education institutions, the provider of the PA service, and perhaps the insurance company, stipulate that the students are precluded from leaving campus during contracted hours. That is quite restrictive. For example, if a student wants to go for a coffee with friends, they are told that they cannot leave campus during…

I also wish to acknowledge the people in the Gallery and pay tribute to the work they do in advocating for equality and inclusion. I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this motion and for providing the opportunity to speak on the challenges that disabled people face with additional cost of disability and the level of unmet need. The Indecon cost of disability report confirmed what was widely known but frequently not acknowledged, namely, that there is a significant additional cost to disability. This is the ext…

Last Tuesday, 28 June, marked world newborn screening day. I initially submitted this Topical Issue matter last week to coincide with that date after a parent who has two children with spinal muscular atrophy, SMA, contacted me and asked me to ask the Minister for Health a very simple question: why is there a continued delay in adding spinal muscular atrophy to the conditions tested for in the newborn heel prick test? We need progress on this important issue without further delay. Each year in Ireland, an average o…