Sinn Féin TD for Roscommon/Galway Claire Kerrane has called on Government to support Sinn Féin’s plans to deliver real supports for disabled people and their families.
Deputy Kerrane was speaking as Sinn Féin spokesperson on Disability and Carers, Pauline Tully, announced she would next week bring forward a Dáil motion to address the stark shortcomings in the government’s approach to addressing people’s needs.
Deputy Kerrane said that the government needs to start treating disabled people, their families and Family Carers with respect, adding that they would be prioritised in a Sinn Féin government.
Teachta Kerrane said: “Sinn Féin in government would deliver real supports for disabled people and their families.
“Disabled people and Family Carers deserve so much better but instead feel abandoned, that they are not being listened to and that they have been constantly let down by government.
“That is why Sinn Féin spokesperson on Disability and Carers, Pauline Tully, is next week bringing forward a Dáil motion to make rights real for disabled people and their families.
“The shortcomings in the government’s approach to addressing the needs of disabled people are stark.
“The government is allowing its own Disability Capacity Review, published in 2021 to establish the level of additional funding required to address unmet need and demographic change in disability services, to lie idle.
“The additional funding of €42m announced in Budget 2025 for new development measures comes nowhere near the level of funding required to address the issues found in the Disability Capacity Review, while the latest HSE Children’s Disability Staff Census and Workforce Review found there were 817 staff vacancies.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the inadequacies that need to be addressed urgently or disability services will deteriorate even further.
“Sinn Féin’s motion next week calls on the government to deliver rights-based access to services and support for people.
“They must acknowledge their failure to truly recognise the additional cost of disability in Budget 2025, and rectify this mistake in the upcoming Social Welfare Miscellaneous Bill 2024 to ensure core disability-related social welfare schemes are increased by €20.
“The government needs to promote employment allocating an additional €10m to the Wage Subsidy Scheme for workers with disabilities.
“We are also calling for the establishment of a ‘Community Care Access Fund’ to speed-up access to mental health and disability diagnosis and interventions.
“We believe that more spaces in adult day services must be created alongside appropriate respite and intensive home support packages for disabled children, and the development of a planned pathway to residential supports for disabled people must be prioritised.
“Our motion also calls for an end to the practice of placing people under 65 in nursing homes and to make greater provision for disabled people to live in appropriate accommodation by investing in decongregation, and providing housing and housing supports in the community.
“The government needs to start treating disabled people, their families and family carers with respect. They would be prioritised in a Sinn Féin government.”
*I note disability representation organisations use the term disabled people which I didn’t think was used anymore and I previously would have said persons with a disability, I say that as I do not wish to insult anyone, language is important and I take it that the terms used by the organisations is appropriate.
