 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dáil Debates & Questions
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
November 25 2008
Parliamentary Questions
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS Deputy Jan O’Sullivan (L): asked the Minister for Health and Children the timeframe for implementing the recommendations in A Vision for Change; Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): The Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy, ‘A Vision for Change’, provides a framework for action to develop modern, high quality mental health services over a seven to ten year period. Implementation of ‘A Vision for Change’ is primarily the responsibility of the Health Service Executive. Earlier this year, the HSE approved an Implementation Plan which sets out six key priorities for 2008 and 2009. They include:
A more detailed implementation plan for the period 2009 and beyond is being developed by the HSE and will be submitted to me before the end of this year. In January 2008, the Office for Disability and Mental Health was established. The Office will bring a new impetus to the implementation of the Report through working in partnership with the HSE and other stakeholders to achieve implementation of agreed targets. Deputy David Stanton (FG): asked the Minister for Health and Children her views on statements contained in the Comptroller and Auditor General Annual Report 2007 that disability and mental health areas contributed €53 million to budget overruns in the hospital sector of the Health Service Executive; the efforts she is making to ensure that all funding allocations in respect of disability related services under the multi-annual investment programme are used for these services; Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): I understand that the HSE have replied directly to the Deputy on this matter. Deputy Joe McHugh (FG): asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason €38 million has been diverted from the disability budget since January 2007; the location this money was spent in other areas of the health service; the cutbacks that were made in the disability budget because of this €38 million diminution; if disabled people without personal assistance have been placed on a second waiting list due to the diversion of this €38 million. Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Health Service Executive to arrange to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy in relation to Disability expenditure in 2007. In the 2008 Budget, €50m was provided to the Health Service Executive (HSE) to fund a range of additional services under the Multi Annual Investment Programme for Disability. Although the commencement of the planned developments in disability services this year had been delayed due to a financial review, I am pleased to inform you that the Executive has informed the Department of Health and Children that it is now in the process of rolling out the planned developments, including 200,000 additional personal assistant/home support hours. A total of 3.2 million hours of personal assistant/home support are provided each year by the HSE to people with a disability. The HSE had indicated that due to the delayed start to some of these developments it expects to spend €33m of the €50m by the end of 2008. The resulting €17m time related savings were included in this Department’s budgetary consolidation measures announced to the House in July 2008. In Budget 2009, an additional €10 million was allocated to the HSE for services in the area of disability and mental health. The funding for 2009 will provide for 125 additional therapy posts in the disability and mental health services area, targeted at children of school going age. The additional funding for 2009 will also provide for, once-off funding of €1.75m for suicide prevention initiatives and for mental health projects supporting service users and carers. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan (FG): asked the Minister for Health and Children the action she proposes to take to ensure strategic research into the possible cause or causes of autism here with particular reference to comparison with other European countries; if her attention has been drawn to the strongly held views of parents of children with autism about urgent research in this area; if she or her Department has had discussions with the countries throughout Europe with the highest and lowest incidents of autism and Asperger’s syndrome; Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney): The Department of Health and Children does not collect information on children identified with Autism on a national or international basis. Information pertaining to diagnosis is specifically excluded from the National Intellectual Disability Database as the database is not designed as a medical epidemiological tool. Accordingly the database does not record the incidence of Autism or any other disability. In 2004, the Department of Health and Children, through the Health Research Board, approved expenditure of €5 million on autism research to help improve international understanding of the genetic causes of autism. This €5 million is the Irish contribution to a new major international research initiative called the Autism Genome Project which will receive a total investment of €12 million from a variety of international organisations over the next three years. The other co-funders in the international consortium include Autism Speaks (US), the British Medical Research Council (CIHR), Southwest Autism Research and Resource Centre (SARRC), and the Hilibrand Foundation. This unique combination of international, public and private partners funding a consortium of clinicians and scientists is a new and welcome departure in the field of autism research. The Health Research Board has informed my Department that this funding was awarded as follows:
Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin (affiliated to UCD). This figure represents the largest tranche of funding to be awarded by any of the four funders within the international consortium. The Irish researchers are at the forefront in unraveling the genetic determinants of autism and related disorders. They are using novel state of the art genetic sequencing technology to analyse DNA samples taken from autistic patients to identify candidate genetic markers for autism. They will collaborate with their international colleagues to then link these genetic markers with clinical outcomes. This unique international research effort will greatly improve not only our understanding of the causes of autism, but its diagnosis and treatment. To-date my Department has not been in any discussions on this specific issue with European colleagues.
Deputy Pádraic McCormack (FG): asked the Minister for Transport the position regarding the regulation of taxi operators having to have wheelchair accessible taxis; Minister for Transport (Deputy Noel Dempsey): The Commission for Taxi Regulation is the independent public body responsible for the regulatory framework of the taxi industry. There is no requirement for taxi operators to have a wheelchair accessible vehicle to acquire a taxi licence. However, my Department has been in discussion with the Commission for Taxi Regulation about a proposal for a subsidy scheme to assist with the purchase of accessible vehicles over a five-year period that will meet the new accessible vehicle specification that has been developed by the Commission. A number of options for the delivery of additional accessible vehicles are being explored by my Department in the wider context of improving accessibility to public transport for people with disabilities. In this context, the Department’s Public Transport Accessibility Committee recently discussed the provision of wheelchair accessible taxis when considering a review of Transport Access for All —the Department’s sectoral plan under the Disability Act 2005. The Committee questioned whether, in the present economic environment and on practical grounds, it was necessary to provide for the entire fleet of taxis in urban areas to be wheelchair accessible. In that light my Department will engage further with the Commission for Taxi Regulation to identify whether a more cost effective approach to the provision of adequate numbers of wheelchair accessible taxis can be developed. Deputy Róisín Shortall (L): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the extent of the State’s liability in respect of the backdating of disability payments arising from the decision of the High Court on 17 November 2008 to award a patient of a psychiatric hospital €60,000 in settlement of their case against the Health Service Executive and herself; the number of claimants affected by this decision; the way she will facilitate claims; the location where affected claimants can get information on making claims; Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The case referred to by the Deputy was settled without prejudice for a sum significantly less than the plaintiff sought and without any admission of liability on the part of the State. In so far as this Department is concerned, the plaintiffs sought a declaration as to the Constitutionality of the legislative measures introduced by this Department in 1999 governing entitlement to the Disability Allowance. Since no admission has been made by the Department in this regard, the question of potential liability does not arise from this case. Deputy Olivia Mitchell (FG): asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the entitlements a person is eligible for whilst their appeal for carer’s allowance is being processed and as the carer’s benefit has been withdrawn. Minister for Social and Family Affairs (Deputy Mary Hanafin): The supplementary welfare allowance scheme (SWA) which is administered on behalf of the Department by the community welfare division of the Health Service Executive (HSE), is designed to provide immediate and flexible assistance for those in need who do not qualify for payment under other State scheme. A number of categories are specifically excluded from receiving SWA i.e. people in full-time work, people in full-time education and people involved in trade disputes. Apart from the excluded categories, anyone in the State who satisfies a habitual residency condition and a means test, has registered for employment, unless they have a physical or mental disability, and can prove unemployment, or anyone who is awaiting the outcome of a claim or an appeal for a primary social welfare or HSE payment, may qualify for SWA. In addition, a person can also apply for payments such as rent supplement, diet supplement and exceptional needs payments under the SWA scheme. In order to claim any payment under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme a person should contact their local community welfare officer (CWO). While there is no automatic entitlement to supplementary welfare allowance, pending the receipt of another social welfare payment, the CWO may award SWA in any case where the circumstances of the case so warrant.
Deputy Brian Hayes (FG): asked the Minister for Education and Science the amount of funding to be allocated to the fund for students with disabilities in respect of the academic year 2008-09; if there is a capping on the amount of funding allocated to different disabilities on an averaging of spending in previous years, even though in June 2008 at the launch of the Higher Education Authority Plan for Access 2008 to 2013 he announced that the plan is to double the number of people with sensory, physical and multiple disabilities in higher education by 2013; Minister for Education and Science (Deputy Batt O’Keeffe): The Fund for Students with Disabilities is a component of the Third Level Access Fund and is administered on behalf of my Department by the Higher Education Authority’s National Office for Equity of Access to Higher Education. The total allocation to the Third Level Access Fund for 2008 is €17.984m. In addition to the Fund for Students with Disabilities, the Third Level Access Fund supports other programmes, including the Student Assistance Fund, the Millennium Partnership Fund and pilot community-based access initiatives. The decision on the allocation of resources for 2008-9 between the different strands of the Third Level Access Fund will be made by the National Access Office in consultation with my Department and following the completion of discussions with the sector, having regard to the goals of the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education. Capping of supports has always applied in relation to individual equipment and personal service supports under the fund for Students with Disabilities.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Inclusion
Ireland, Unit C2, The Steelworks, Foley Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.
Tel: 01 8559891 Fax: 01 8559904 Email: info@inclusionireland.ie |