December 2009

 

INCLUSION IRELAND & NPSA URGE GOVERNMENT TO REMEMBER PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY

• Cut to disability allowance very negative;
• Carers save the State millions, cuts to allowances don’t make economic sense;
• Investment in mental health is welcome but monies cannot come from disability budget;
• People with a disability must have access to employment training programmes

Inclusion Ireland and the National Parents and Siblings Alliance (NPSA) urges the Government to keep people with a disability to the fore in the coming weeks as the Estimates for all Departments are published. People with a disability and their families have already seen their frontline services cut back and progressive government policy such as the Disability Strategy eroded. Government politicians have consistently said over past months that our most vulnerable, including people with a disability, remain a Government priority.

Disability Allowance:

Inclusion Ireland CEO Deirdre Carroll and NPSA Director Seamus Greene have said cuts to the disability allowance are a retrograde step:

“It has been announced that disability allowance will be reduced. In last year’s Budget the rate of health charges was raised so the charge accounted for 75% of a person’s disability allowance. Leaving people with an intellectual disability and autism with such a small amount to spend after the charges are deducted, does not promote inclusion into society. With a further reduction in disability allowance, people will have even less to spend. This reduction in disability allowance also comes at a time when many disability services have started to charge for travel and other such expenses, due to cutbacks in their own organisations. This leaves people with an intellectual disability and autism with barely pittance to spend. This will be compounded for many by the charge for medical card prescriptions. For many people without a disability socializing is seen as a luxury that can be cut back on. For people with an intellectual disability and autism living in residential services it is a way of connecting with the mainstream community and fighting off institutionalization. We urge the Government to ensure health charges are not increased, and that there are no further cuts to the disability allowance.”  

  

Job Training:

“Money has been allocated in the Budget towards job training. People with a disability must have full access to this training. A comprehensive employment strategy for people with a disability has not been developed despite numerous commitments from the Government. This is more important now than ever before.”

 

Commitment to ‘A Vision for Change’:

Inclusion Ireland and the NPSA welcome the investment into mental health and the commitment to a ‘Vision for Change’, and hope the commitment to invest in provisions for people with an intellectual disability and autism who have mental health problems remains an important part of this plan. “We believe this investment in mental health is vitally important, but assurances are needed that this money will not be taken from the disability budget as has happened in the past. €53 million from the disability and mental health fund were diverted in 2007, and €17 million of monies allocated specifically to disability were diverted away in 2009. Disability cannot be seen as an easy pocket from which money can be picked for other health service areas.”

Carers Allowance:

“It is very disappointing that there will be cuts to allowances for carers. Carers save the public coffers millions every year. 64% of people with an intellectual disability live at home. Places in residential services cost the state at least €70,000 a year. If carers weren’t at home providing care, the state would have to pay.”

ENDS

 

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