Spire tells the disabled what the Government really thinks of them

By Fergus Finlay

But more and more I think it could be most useful as a symbol of the Government that has ruled us through all the time the Spire was being conceived, designed, and created.

Increasingly when I see it, it reminds me of a single finger, upraised against the sky, telling the people of Dublin and of Ireland exactly what its Government thinks of them.

This is a Government that does more than raise the finger to the citizens of its republic. It turns a blind eye, and it speaks with a forked tongue.

Those three characteristics might sound like clichés, but they are becoming more apparent by the day.

As you read this, the Government and some of its acolytes will be hosting a reception in the Mansion House. The Taoiseach, no less, will preside over the affair, which is designed to launch the 'European Year of Disabled Persons' in Ireland.

Among the things he will announce will be a series of grants for projects that highlight the purposes of the year.

However, grants for capital projects, or which involve the employment of staff beyond 2003, won't be considered.

So if you were thinking of using the money to provide some much-needed service for people with disabilities in your area, sorry about that.

But we'll all be encouraged to celebrate, to remember that people with disabilities are among the most courageous, determined, and graceful citizens of our land.

And the most discriminated against.

You may have seen or heard about the independent report into conditions in Drumcar, one of the larger centres for people with severe intellectual disabilities in Ireland.

These are very vulnerable citizens of our republic, and they are routinely restrained in straitjackets or locked in secure units, at serious risk to their lives.

The people who run Drumcar, the John of God Fathers (who provide some of the best services in Ireland) commissioned the report that made these shocking revelations.

They admit frankly that without resources, there is little they can do to improve the appalling conditions in which their patients are sometimes held.

Is that worth celebrating? Drumcar isn't the only place. Much has been written about St Ita's, Portrane, over many years.

Report after report, and government promise after government promise, has promised to do something about it.

Money has been set aside, commitments have been given that it would no longer be used as an entirely inappropriate home for people who need shelter and support.

But the money hasn't been spent, and as recently as the last couple of weeks more people were admitted there as a last resort because there was nowhere else for them to go.

Is that worth celebrating? Throughout the whole of 2002, the Government was engaged in "consultation" seeking to devise a piece of legislation to replace the entirely discredited Disability Bill it tried to ram through before the election.

All of those involved in the process are entirely agreed about what they want. They want the rights-based Bill the Government promised in its election manifestos; they want enforcement of those rights; they want accountability and inspection of services.

All these things were promised when the original Disability Bill was withdrawn. But guess what? They haven't been able to reach any sort of agreement yet.

Is that worth celebrating? After the Jamie Sinnott case, the then Minister for Education made a whole series of promises.

You might even remember he talked about having an open chequebook. Structures were going to be changed radically.

Psychologists were going to be employed finally to get the National Educational Psychological Service up and running and to eliminate the shameful waiting lists for basic assessments.

The bottlenecks that have led to incredible shortages of occupational and speech therapists were going to be eliminated by the simple (and entirely achievable) device of doubling the numbers in training.

But I guess I don't need to tell you, that hasn't happened either.

Is that worth celebrating? Over the last couple of weeks, many organisations around the country have had to send out letters to countless parents of people with learning disabilities, telling them that "because of the lack of funding there may not be a service available for your child from September."

Could you imagine the uproar if the parents of children without learning disabilities got letters telling them that there wouldn't be educational or training places for their children this year?

I often wonder why, when services for people with disabilities are threatened, it seldom makes the front pages of the papers. If similar threats were made against school services for children without learning disabilities, it would be all over the front pages.

But the arrival of those letters hasn't encouraged parents to celebrate.

Before the last budget, the organisations representing people with learning disabilities made urgent, even frantic, representations to the Government.

On the basis of the Government's own figures, there are hundreds of people in dire need of residential care, of education and training, and of respite care. (Respite care means giving parents, often under extreme stress, a break).

The Government acknowledged the representations, and refused to allocate one extra penny in the budget. Not one extra penny. When questioned in the Dáil on the matter, the Taoiseach, bless him, expressed sympathy and regret.

Is that worth celebrating? So instead of celebrating, instead of joining the festivities in the Mansion House, parents will be protesting outside. They will be trying to make the point that disability is about barriers.

People with disabilities aren't sick. They are people who have had barriers placed in their way. The only thing they ask of the rest of us is a bit of help to tear those barriers down.

Later this year the Special Olympics World Games will be held in Dublin. It will demonstrate just what people with disabilities can do, and it will demonstrate it to the whole world.

It will happen because of a gigantic effort by a lot of people. And it will happen because throughout our community, at corporate, community and individual level, people have said they want to help to tear down the barriers.

But in one of the richest countries in the world, our Government has decided to make an example of people with disabilities.

That's why, for the first time in my memory, there wasn't a penny in the budget for new places or services.

The message was If the Government was tough enough to ignore people with disabilities, despite the visible level of community support, they were tough enough for anything.

It wasn't even necessary. There is more than enough money to solve any problem we choose to solve. But that doesn't matter to this Government.

And that's why parents have to protest, rather than celebrate, outside the Mansion House at 9.30 this morning. It's not too late to join them and show solidarity with some fellow-citizens who are being elbowed aside.

And later, maybe, you could walk on down and have a look at the Spire. See what it reminds you of.