Concern grows over delays to Disability Bill

THE Government can still not say if the Disability Bill will be seen before the forthcoming elections, despite the Tánaiste saying it will be published as soon as possible.

Responding to questions in the Dáil, Ms Harney said the long-awaited bill was on the agenda of the Cabinet at the moment and was almost finalised. Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked Ms Harney if the bill was being deliberately not published until after the elections, while Fine Gael disability spokesman David Stanton told the Tánaiste there was huge concern about delays.

While the bill did come up at the Cabinet’s meeting yesterday, a Government spokesperson said it was not discussed in any substantial manner and further discussions have to take place before its publication. The bill has been at Cabinet a few times already, the spokesperson said, but the Government has not signed off on it and cannot say if it will be published before June 11.

“No I can’t say that,” the spokesperson said.

As the Government faced mounting criticism from disability groups, Psychiatric Nurses Association general secretary Des Kavanagh said actual investment in mental health had fallen from 13.7% to just below 7% despite plans and commitments from every government over the past 20 years to develop the area.

Mr Kavanagh said there were old sanatoriums that could be sold off for a huge price to the private sector and reinvested in mental health.

A spokesman for St John of Gods said a new nine-bed children’s respite centre opened a couple of weeks ago by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern remained closed because they had no funding to run it.

The Eastern Regional Health authority recently sold St Loman’s Hospital in Ballyowen, Dublin, for E36 million and have committed to reinvesting the money in mental health.

Mr Kavanagh said the sale of St Ita’s in Portrane in County Dublin could see patients being taken out of appalling facilities and moved into appropriate modern facilities. But, he said, a Government commitment was required to make that happen.

Irish Nurses Organisation general secretary Liam Doran said nurses in the intellectual disability sector were being paid less than social care workers who did not have a specific qualification, or who may not have a qualification at all.

“The Government has refused to do anything about that, so it is no wonder that agencies that provide a service for people with intellectual disabilities are encountering grave difficulties in recruiting people,” he said.

The message from the National Association for People with Intellectual Disability to the Government was publish the Disability Bill and be damned by an electorate who cares how the State treats its less fortunate citizens. The general secretary of the National Association of the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland, Deirdre Carroll, said they felt let down by the Government who have now admitted that there was no right to services provided for in the proposed legislation.

“Let them publish the bill before the election and let the electorate decide,” she urged.