Ring-fence funding for disabilities, agencies urge

A COALITION of agencies supporting people with disabilities have urged the Government to ring-fence funding for the area in the upcoming budget.

Slamming the new Programme for Government as the work of a first year economics student, the groups – Inclusion Ireland, the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies, Irish Autism Action, Down Syndrome Ireland and the National Parents and Siblings Alliance – also claimed money could be saved through earlier intervention which would allow children a better chance at a normal life.

Yesterday’s forum, attended by parents of disabled children from around the country, heard from Inclusion Ireland chief executive Deirdre Carroll, that the new Programme for Government contains no targets, no outline of resources and no timeframes regarding services for those with disabilities.

“A first year economics student would not write a Programme for Government like that and we are particularly angry about that,” she said.

Inclusion Ireland chairman William Shorten said €30 million in funding had been taken from service providers in recent years under the guise of value for money reviews, at a time when more than 4,500 new day and residential places will be needed by 2013.

The Government was also criticised over its suspension of Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005, covering Assessment of Need, Service Statements and Redress, and over its failure to implement the EPSEN Act 2004, which provides for education plans for students with special educational needs.

Seamus Greene of the National Parents and Siblings Alliance said schools were not being equipped to use resources for autistic children in a productive way, and teachers had not been properly trained.

Mary O’Reilly of Down Syndrome Ireland said: “Now we have teenagers with Down Syndrome and who have done the Junior Cert and Leaving Cert and are now in no man’s land.”

Brian O’Donnell of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies said the number of people aged 50 and over with an intellectual disability had increased by 20% between 1996 and 2007, a situation which prompted one parent to question whether the Government had a plan to care for these people when their parents die.

Brian Murnane of Irish Autism Action said the Government had made “lousy financial” and “lousy moral” decisions linked to “profligate waste in the public sector.”

Both Ms Carroll and Freda Finlay described as “a disgrace” the lack of independent inspections of residential facilities for adults with an intellectual disability, despite agreed standards from HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority). It is estimated that 10,000 people are currently in community homes, in addition to those in residential settings.

Miss Carroll said she had received reports of bullying and lack of proper care but at present these can only be looked at through the HSE’s formal complaints procedure.

The group also met Minister with responsibility for Mental Health, John Moloney, in Leinster House yesterday where they further pressed their calls for funding for people affected by intellectual and physical disabilities.