Disability strategy - Jobs plan must have solid targets

GOVERNMENT plans to get 7,000 people with disabilities working in mainstream employment over the next five years will receive a cautious welcome from many of those sceptical about political promises that fail to materialise.

Few sections of Irish society have had to fight so hard for their rights as those with disabilities. Understandably, the State’s niggardly response to their plight has sparked widespread cynicism.

Wheeling out the Coalition’s latest strategy at a high-powered PR launch yesterday, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described it as a “detailed roadmap” of the improvements that will be made in the coming years. Framed in consultation with the National Disability Authority and some 500 representative groups, the package will be submitted to the Oireachtas.

On the face of it, the six ‘sectoral plans’, plus a code of practice on accessible public services, and promised funding of €900 million for disability services, looks extremely positive.

Ultimately, Government departments will flesh out the strategy in the realms of health, education, employment, communications, local government, transport and social affairs.

A warning has rightly been given, however, by the umbrella group People with Disabilities in Ireland (PwDI) that if the proposals are to become effective instruments of change, they must have the backing of fixed time frames.

Given yesterday’s impressive line-up of the Taoiseach, plus eight Cabinet ministers, including Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney, the strategy should have every chance of working.

Yet, it remains to be seen if Government can convince employers to back the ambitious jobs scheme. Going on past experience, the outlook is far from promising.

It is worth noting that since the Coalition launched a wage subsidy scheme last year, also with the aim of creating jobs for the people with disabilities, only 70 people have been taken on by employers.

Unfortunately, setbacks go with the territory of disability in Ireland. For instance, the Disability Act 2005, heralded by the Coalition as the cornerstone of public supports for the disabled, was not rights-based.

Notwithstanding the broadly held view that disability victims should be entitled to such basic services as of right, the act has predicated the provision of services on the availability of public finances.

Nevertheless, as PwDI’s national chairman James McClean noted yesterday, with the personal backing of the Taoiseach, the new strategy has the capacity to redress the severe historical neglect of disability.

According to Mr McClean, the plans will dictate the shape of services for people with disabilities into the future. Thus it is critical that they be comprehensive, cohesive and thorough. In his opinion, there must also be a “clear and transparent” roll-out of the measures, with provision for independent monitoring of progress.

According to the Government, €3.6 billion has been invested in the disability sector. Under the sectoral plan, the individual needs of all people with disabilities will be assessed by 2011. Moreover, it aims to improve accessibility to public buildings, increase income support for carers and make accessibility compulsory on public transport.

But unless the scheme is under-pinned by specific targets and deadlines, it could run into the sands. Doubtless, those with disabilities will be disappointed that 2015 is the target for access to public buildings.

And despite the furore over Bus Éireann’s purchase of 60 inter-city coaches without wheelchair facilities, the national plan sets no deadline for improving access to public transport.

While the Taoiseach denies that yesterday’s unveiling of the national disability strategy was an election stunt, there was a strong whiff of electioneering in the air.