October 13 2009

Dáil Debates

• Order of Business: Capacity legislation

Parliamentary Questions

• Programmes to ensure equal access to employment for people with disabilities
• Performance indicators for mental health budget
• Changes to disability services and consultation
• Dept. of Health and easy to read material
• Dept. of Justice and easy to read material
• Reduction is disability allowance
• Dept. of Social and Family Affairs and easy to read material
• Wheelchair accessible polling stations at Lisbon referendum

DÁIL DEBATES

• Order of Business: Capacity legislation

Deputy David Stanton (FG): I refer to two proposed Bills, the first of which is the mental capacity Bill. There are rumours it will be shelved. I would like the Taoiseach to confirm that is not true and the Bill will proceed as soon as possible. Will he expedite the legislation because there are significant pressures in that area and it is badly needed? The legislation is also required to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an area in which the Taoiseach has an interest…

The Taoiseach: …I understand the mental capacity Bill should be taken in the new year.

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Programmes to ensure equal access to employment for people with disabilities

Deputy Caoimhghin O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps or programmes being put in place to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to employment opportunities in the current economic conditions.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Deputy Mary Coughlan): All FÁS services are open to people with disabilities. FA´ S provides vocational training for the unemployed and new entrants to the labour market through specific skills training and traineeships. FÁS also provides training for those in employment through apprenticeships and in-company training. A person with a disability may call into a FÁS Employment Service Office for information, advice and guidance in relation to vocational training and employment. People with disabilities may be supported while in employment by FÁS through the following programmes:

• The Wage Subsidy Scheme provides financial incentives to employers, outside the public sector, to employ people with disabilities who work more than 20 hours per week. The subsidies are structured under three strands and the employer can benefit from one, or all, simultaneously. As a positive action for apprentices with disabilities, a total of twenty places is available on a national basis this year under the Wage Subsidy Scheme.
• The Supported Employment Programme is an open labour market initiative providing people with disabilities with supports to help them access the open labour market. It is implemented by sponsor organisations on behalf of FA´ S who employ job coaches to provide a range of supports tailored to the individual needs of a job seeker. The ultimate outcome is that the employee becomes independent of job coach support.
• FÁS operates a series of private sector employment supports under its reasonable accommodation fund to assist people with disabilities to access and progress in employment. It also provides supports for employers and job seekers. Programmes under these headings include:

  • Workplace Equipment Adaptation Grant

  • Job Interview/Personal Reader Grant

  • Employee Retention Grant

  • Disability Awareness Training Grant Scheme

  • Technical Employment Support Grant

Further details on the above programmes and supports are available on the FA´ S website www.fas.ie. In addition to the above-mentioned programmes and supports, people with disabilities may also avail of work experience and training under the FÁS Community Employment (CE) Programme. Approximately 25% of the participants on CE are people with disabilities. Over the past number of months my Department has led on the advancement of an outline for a comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities in consultation with key stakeholder representatives on the Department’s Consultative Forum. The aim of this strategy, which meets a commitment under the Department’s Sectoral Plan under the Disability Act, 2005, is to address the diversity of circumstances, needs and abilities of people with disabilities, and to work towards achieving the highest possible levels of employment for them. In order to facilitate further partnership between Government Departments and agencies, my Department, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Children, has recently established a Cross Sectoral Group to further advance the completion of the comprehensive strategy for people with disabilities.

• Performance indicators for mental health budget

Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan (I): asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will introduce performance indicators with supporting data to enable accurate monitoring of the national mental health budget; and if she will support initiatives to reduce acute long-stay inpatient beds in favour of increased provision of community based services.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): Under the Health Act 2004 the Health Service Executive is required to prepare and submit an annual Service Plan to the Minister for approval. The Service Plan must inter alia reflect the policies and objectives of the Minister and the Government. Significant progress was made in the HSE Service Plan 2009 in terms of incorporating more explicit links between funding, staffing and services and the development of an improved set of activity measures, performance indicators and deliverables in key service areas, including in the mental health area, which are matched with timescales. The HSE reports monthly to my Department on the performance of the health system against the agreed targets. My Department is continuing to work with the HSE to further refine and develop appropriate performance measures in mental health in 2010. Policy for the development of mental health services is outlined in ‘A Vision for Change’ the Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy. The aim is to migrate from traditional institutional based model to a patient-centred, flexible and community based mental health service, where need for hospital admission is greatly reduced, whilst still providing in-patient care when appropriate. In January 2008, the Office for Disability and Mental Health was established and one of its priorities is to drive implementation of ‘A Vision for Change’. In April 2009, the HSE adopted an implementation plan for the five year period 2009 — 2013 and shortly intends to appoint a national lead for mental health which will bring a new impetus to the implementation of ‘A Vision for Change’.

• Changes to disability services and consultation

Deputy Caoimhghin O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will ensure that relevant organisations will be consulted before making changes to disability services.

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): The Department of Health and Children has well established consultation procedures with disability service providers and users in relation to the development of policy in this area. As part of the overall monitoring mechanism in relation to the implementation of the National Disability Strategy, my Department established the National Disability Advisory Committee in 2007 to provide a forum to inform policy at national level in relation to health-related services for people with disabilities and to advise me on progress in the implementation of the Disability Act 2005 within the health services. The Committee is representative of people with disabilities, disability service providers and other key stakeholders.

Disability stakeholder groups are also represented on the National Disability Strategy Stakeholder Monitoring Group which was established under Towards 2016 to monitor progress on the overall implementation of the Strategy across all sectors. A review of my Department’s Sectoral Plan under the Disability Act 2005 is currently under way and involves significant stakeholder consultation. As part of the Government’s Value for Money and Policy Reviews for 2009-2011, a Value for Money and Policy Review of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Disability Services in Ireland is currently being undertaken. A structured consultation process with both services users and service providers will be an integral part of this process.

• Dept. of Health and easy to read material

Deputy Caoimhghin O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Minister for Health and Children if she publishes documents on matters of concern to persons with disabilities in easy read format;

Minister for Health and Children (Deputy Mary Harney): The Department’s publications are available on our website, which has the facility to significantly enlarge the font size should this be required. It is the Department’s policy to ensure that our publications are as clear and as accessible as possible at all times, and in compliance with all statutory and other requirements.

• Dept. of Justice and easy to read material

Deputy Caoimhghin O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he publishes documents on matters of concern to persons with disabilities in easy read format;

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Deputy John Curran): I can inform the Deputy that my Department is committed to providing a high quality Customer Service to all customers including those with a disability and that a wide range of documents on matters of concern to people with disabilities are published in large print, Braille, Audio, plain English and/or easy read pictures. Examples of these include documents such as the Disability Act, the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Gender Equality in Ireland and the Code of Practice on Accessibility of Public Services and information provided by Public Bodies as well as the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society. I can also confirm that my Department’s website (www.justice.ie) is AAA compliant and easy to read format documents and web content can be published on this website. Other services available to persons with disabilities that might be of interest to the Deputy include the Irish Prison Service (IPS) website which is enabled for Browsealoud, a computer program that reads aloud all website content. All IPS publications are available on the IPS website (www.irishprisons.ie) and documents published by the Probation Service are available on its website (www.probation.ie) which is AAA compliant. When notified of specific needs, arrangements are made to provide information to customers in an accessible format. Furthermore, the Equality Authority’s website (www.equality.ie) has level three accessibility. The Authority publishes, both in hard copy and on its website, several explanatory booklets and leaflets on equality, maternity, parental and adoptive matters along with a free quarterly newsletter and a large number of specialist publications which are all available in PDF and Rich Text Format. Publications are available on demand in large font, braille, and as required. The Equality Tribunal publishes all its forms and leaflets in easy read format on request. Its customer service leaflets have achieved the National Adult Literacy Agency kitemark award for literacy. The Tribunal also translates its documents into braille format and onto audio tape on request.

• Reduction is disability allowance

Deputy Caoimhghin O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will ensure that the disability allowance is not reduced.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): Proposals in relation to the rates of social welfare payments, including disability allowance, will be considered in the context of the forthcoming Estimates and Budget processes. It would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage pending the outcome of these deliberative processes.

• Dept. of Social and Family Affairs and easy to read material

Deputy Caoimhghn O’Caoláin (SF): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she publishes documents on matters of concern to persons with disabilities in easy-read format;

Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The Department provides information on the range of schemes and services, including documents of interest to people with disabilities, in an accessible format on the Departments website www.welfare.ie. This allows customers view these documents in large print view, high contrast view or, alternatively, using assistive technology to access the information. Information leaflets and application formsare provided in a format accessible for people with specific needs, such as Braille, audio tape or large print, on request. The Department works in partnership with the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) in implementing a “Plain English” policy to ensure that all forms and leaflets are produced in a simple, clear, easy to read format that is accessible to people with different levels of literacy ability. The Department also engages NALA to provide training to staff on the use of plain English in all communications with customers. I am satisfied that the Department facilitates access to information on social welfare entitlements for citizens with disabilities or reading difficulties.

• Wheelchair accessible polling stations at Lisbon referendum

Deputy Arthur Morgan (SF): asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if all polling stations were wheelchair accessible during the Lisbon referendum on 2 October 2009; if not, the number of non-wheelchair accessible stations; when all polling stations will be wheelchair accessible;

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy John Gormley): Under electoral law, returning officers are responsible for all matters in relation to the conduct of elections, including the provision of polling stations. The information requested is not available in my Department. The law provides that local authorities, in making polling schemes, shall endeavour to appoint polling places which allow the returning officer to provide at each place at least one polling station that is accessible to wheelchair users and requires that the returning officer shall, where practicable, provide polling stations which are accessible to wheelchair users. The returning officer must also, where practicable, give public notice of all polling stations which are inaccessible to wheelchair users not later than the eighth day before polling day. If an elector will have difficulty gaining access to his or her polling station, he or she may apply in writing to the returning officer for authorisation to vote at another polling station in the same constituency/local electoral area. If a person has a physical illness or physical disability which prevents him or her from going to the polling station, the person can vote by post if he or she applies to be included in the postal voters list which is drawn up each year as part of the register of electors. In order to be entered on the postal voters list, the person must apply to the appropriate local authority by 25 November each year. After that date, an application for inclusion on the supplement to the postal voters list may be made.

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