In last October's budget of €9.4 billion, the Government made the very cruel decision to leave disabled people worse off by €1,400. Since then, life has become so much harder for everybody, but all the more so if one is a disabled person who has fallen further and further behind. Our Dáil motion yesterday called on the Government to do two things. First, to deliver an emergency €500 cost of disability payment now and, second, to introduce a new permanent cost of disability scheme. Instead of listening, the Government pushed back. It rejected our motion and the amendment it brought forward is an insult to disabled people. It is consultation after consultation and report after report for the Government, when it knows exactly what needs to be done and what the issues are. Yet, the Government tells disabled people to wait. It is the same for carers. At the rate the Government is going, it will take 30 years to abolish the means test for carers. There is no urgency at all. Yesterday, the Government announced a new autism assessment protocol, but one of the first things from the mouth of the Minister for Health was that the Government will not have enough staff for the new assessment centres. Good God. Who announces new centres knowing that we do not have the staff to make them work? This is happening when more than 20,000 children are waiting for an assessment of needs, thousands of children with disabilities are waiting for therapies, supports and services, hundreds of children with additional needs are waiting for a school place and thousands of children are in inappropriate school placements. Every single summer, parents face a battle to find an appropriate school place for their child the following September. Despite all of the big promises made by the Government, this summer is no different. Tonight in Cabra, in my community, parents will hold a meeting on this issue again. We will hear more stories of pressure and rejection letters piled high on the kitchen table. I know one mother who has received 17 rejection letters for her child. We will hear stories of children being offered school places that do not exist in classrooms that have not been opened or even built. Does the Government know what that does to a parent and child? We will also hear anger that the window for July provision applications for summer educational support for children with additional needs was open for only one week this year. What is that all about? In previous years, the window was open for months. This unreasonable timeframe means that many children will miss out on vital educational support this summer. Why is the Government making life so difficult for these families? It needs to immediately reopen the application window to allow schools to get their applications in. Tá Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ag teip ar dhaoine faoi mhíchumas agus páistí le riachtanais bhreise le blianta fada. Caithfear deireadh a chur leis. Tá sé in am don Rialtas meas a léiriú agus seirbhísí agus tacaíocht cheart a chur ar fáil. The failure of people and children with additional needs is immense. I have raised several issues with the Taoiseach today, but I could go on and on. I appeal to the Taoiseach to deliver the cost of disability scheme, resource the new autism assessment centres, guarantee an appropriate school place for every child in September and, for goodness sake, immediately reopen the application window for July provision.
Sentiment score: -0.09
The Government tried to cut them.
Sentiment score: -0.27
Is the Government reopening the July provision?
Sentiment score: 0.00
Is the Government reopening the July provision?
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Taoiseach mumbles. He does not enunciate clearly.
Sentiment score: -0.15
You do not enunciate clearly. You mumbled. I did not hear what you said.
Sentiment score: -0.10
These are important issues and it is important when the Head of Government addresses them that he is audible, clear and I can hear him. It is not a case of whether the Taoiseach agrees with me or not. He seems singularly unable to acknowledge the real experience of disabled people who are telling him, and have told him for quite some time, that they are struggling financially. At times, they have told stories of making choices between heating and eating. Even in scenarios that are not that extreme, they are under huge pressure. The Taoiseach is right. A one-off payment is not the be all and end all but they need that now. They also need a cost of disability scheme. For all of the Taoiseach's palaver about what the Government has done and his clapping himself on his back, I have a letter here from one mother who is explaining what she is living through now because her child does not have the guarantee of a school place in September. She talks about watching time run out while everybody else's child moves forward and her frustration at having to repeatedly prove her child's need to the system.
Sentiment score: -0.02
She talks about the uncertainty, the exhaustion, the guilt and the anger.
Sentiment score: -0.87
Can the Taoiseach please tell everybody that he is guaranteeing a school place for every child? Is he reopening the July provision?
Sentiment score: 0.16
Will every child have a school place?
Sentiment score: 0.00