June 09 2010

Parliamentary Questions

• Dental service for people with a disability in Co. Galway
• Domiciliary Care Allowance
• Local authority employers and 3% of staff employed are persons with a disability
• Condition of housing adaption grant where work commenced prior to approval will not be grant aided

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Dental service for people with a disability in Co. Galway

Deputy Paul Connaughton (FG):  asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason there is no maintenance dental service available to disabled persons in County Galway and in particular to persons with cerebral palsy; if her attention has been brought that the dental service is limited to extractions where there is great pain; if her further attention has been drawn this stress and anxiety this causes;

Minister for Health and Children (Deputy Mary Harney): I wish to advise the Deputy that due to industrial action affecting the Health Service Executive it is not possible for the Executive to supply the information requested. If this matter remains of continuing concern to you, however, I would invite you to raise it with me again in due course. 

• Domiciliary Care Allowance

Deputy Paul Gogarty (GP): asked the Minister for Social Protection if the domiciliary care allowance paid to parents whose children are on the autism spectrum is a discretionary payment; the guidelines that determine its disbursement; if there has been a recent change of policy in this area; if there has been a reduction in the budget for the domiciliary care allowance;

Minister for Social Protection (Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív): In order to qualify for Domiciliary Care Allowance a child must have a disability so severe that it requires the child needing care and attention and/or supervision substantially in excess of another child of the same age. This care and attention must be given by another person, almost all of the time, so that the child can deal with the activities of daily living. The child must be likely to require this care and attention for at least 12 months. Eligibility for Domiciliary Care Allowance is not based primarily on the impairment or disease but on the resulting lack of function of body or mind necessitating a degree of extra care and attention required. As such it is not possible to say in advance if a child diagnosed with autism or indeed any other condition will qualify for a payment under the scheme. Every application is assessed by one my Department’s Medical Assessors and an individual medical opinion, based on the information submitted by the applicant in support of their claim, is given in each case. The deciding officer then makes a decision having considered the medical opinion provided and all the other information available. There has been no change in policy in relation to the Domiciliary Care Allowance and the budget available remains unchanged. 

• Local authority employers and 3% of staff employed are persons with a disability

Deputy Pádraic McCormack (GP): asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage andLocal Government the steps he will take to ensure that all local authority employers fulfil the regulation that at least 3% of staff employed are persons with a disability; and his plans to make a regulation to ensure that when local authorities fall below that figure they will be allowed to recruit staff suffering from a disability to bring the percentage up to 3% in all local authorities.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy John Gormley): Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 outlines the obligations on public service bodies to employ people with disabilities. There are three interlinked requirements. Firstly public bodies must,insofar as practicable, take all reasonable measures to promote and support the employmentof people with disabilities. Secondly, unless there are good reasons to the contrary, at least 3%of their employees must be people with disabilities. Finally on an annual basis public bodiesmust report to the statutory Monitoring Committee and to the Minister of their parent Departmenton the number of people with disabilities in their employment and the measures they aretaking to support them in employment.A Monitoring Committee was established in 2007 to monitor compliance by local authoritiesand public bodies under the remit of my Department with Part 5 of the Disability Act. Themembers of this Monitoring Committee (including a person representative of people withdisabilities) were appointed for a 3 year term and have met regularly. The Committee hasreviewed employment targets to determine levels of compliance with the Government’s 3%target for the employment of people with disabilities and has reported each year in relation tocompliance by the local authorities and public bodies under the aegis of my Department to theNational Disability Authority (NDA) and to me. For the years 2007 and 2008, 33 out of 34local authorities were in compliance.When the Monitoring Committee reports to me on the levels of compliance for the year2009 within the local authority sector, I will then determine the need for further regulation inthis area, if any.There is a general moratorium on the filling of public sector posts across all local authoritiesand the overall staffing levels in the sector are to be reduced significantly by the end of 2010in accordance with the Government’s Policy on Staffing and Numbers in the Public Sector. 

• Condition of housing adaption grant where work commenced prior to approval will not be grant aided

Deputy John Deasy (FG): asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and LocalGovernment his plans to change the condition of the housing adaption grant for people with a disability, where work commenced prior to approval will not be grant aided, particularly where the waiting period for grant approval is unreasonable based on that person’s disability;

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy Michael Finneran): The Housing Adaptation Grant Schemes for Older People andPeople with a Disability are administered by local authorities in accordance with the provisionsof the Housing (Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability) Regulations2007. Matters such as the assessment and approval of individual applications and the paymentof grants to householders, are the responsibility of the relevant local authority.At my Department’s request, the Centre for Housing Research is currently finalising anevaluation of the grant schemes which was undertaken in consultation with stakeholders,including the local authorities, representative organisations for older people and persons witha disability, and with a cross-section of grant applicants. I expect to receive the evaluationreport shortly. I will consider the need for any amendments to the terms and conditions ofthe various grant measures in the light of the findings and recommendations contained inthe report.

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