Government must not be allowed single out most vulnerable groups
Issued : Saturday 28 March, 2009
Statement by Kathleen Lynch TD
Minister of State, Department of Health and Department of Justice, Equality & Defence with responsibility for Disability,Older People, Equality & Mental Health
As the recession bites and as the Government struggles to bring our public finances under control, it would be the easiest thing in the world to for the Government and its various agencies, target vulnerable groups for unfair treatment. As legislators, and as campaigners for people with intellectual disabilities, we simply must not let that happen.
I was appalled recently for example, when it emerged that the allocation of 10,000 Special Needs Assistants to schools is to be 'reviewed'.
You can be sure that no 'review' is going to increase the number of SNAs so it would appear that Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe is attempting to soften us up for another round of cuts which will impact on children with special needs. This was just weeks after we head of the Minister's intention to cut special teacher support in over 100 schools.
Ending vital services for these children is inexplicable, but rolling back on the significant progress that has been made in this regard in recent times, would be unforgivable.
Carers too have are in the Government's line of fire. The recent refusal of the Govt to publish a National Carers' Strategy represents a massive u-turn and will be a bitter pill for the thousands of effected families to swallow.
The publication of a carers' strategy was a integral element of the Towards 2016 agreement signed by the Govt with the social partners, however, the decision to bin that promise was made by the Govt and the Govt alone.
This was not about carers looking for commitments that they would be in receipt of huge sums of money. This was about a group of people, simply looking for an acknowledgement from official Ireland of the contribution that they make to their families, to their communities and to their country. I'm afraid they have been let down and let down spectacularly in that regard.
That is a huge insult to carers and to the effort that they, in all good faith, put into this whole process.
Carers waited all the way through boom times, for some kind of fair treatment from the Govt, and it wasn't until the last year or two that they finally got some movement in the right direction. Now as public finances come under pressure cutbacks, it seems that they are to be the first to suffer.
Assurances from the various Govt Departments that they will continue to work with all the representative groups "to ensure delivery of services in the most effective manner" are tokenistic and meaningless.
The State is more than happy to accept the three million or more hours of work per week provided by family carers, at virtually no cost to the exchequer. However Ministers are not even willing to take the tiny step of putting their name to a strategy that will provide some kind of direction for families, public bodies and Goct Department in this matter.
The refusal of the Government to adopt HIQA recommendations for standards in dealing with people with special needs is also shameful.
I made the point to Minister Harney this week that much of the substance of the HIQA recommendation could be put in place without spending one cent. These standards are as much about changing attitudes as anything else, and could be put in place with relative ease. Minister Harney seemed to largely agree with me in this. Already HIQA standards for residential care for older people are in place so it is puzzling as to why she is so reluctant to act when it comes to people with intellectual disabilities.
