Sinnott rejects claims of improved disability rights

DISABILITY rights campaigner Kathy Sinnott rejects claims of the Disability Alliance for Europe a Yes vote would give improved services to disabled people in applicant countries.

"The sheer dishonesty of that needs to be answered. Ireland is 30 years in the EU and we still have 1,000 adults with disabilities locked up in subhuman conditions. Even in Ireland, we don't meet the needs of the disabled," she said. The EU was not a magic solution for all disability needs, Ms Sinnott said, adding that the Disability Alliance for Europe is headed by National Disability Authority chairperson Angela Kerins - a Government appointee to a Government agency.

Despite the booming economy, the disabled were not being looked after, she said, and even after 30 years in the EU, last year the Government tried to introduce retrograde and insulting legislation governing disabled people. "At the moment, we in the disability sector are under incredible pressure from cutbacks. There is 1.8 million spent on the Yes vote. I am really practical. If you gave me that money, I could change a great number of people's lives for the better," Ms Sinnott said.