Disability groups call for no more cuts

FURTHER CUTS in the budget would mark the “end of the Government’s commitment to people with disabilities”, the chief executive of Inclusion Ireland said yesterday.

Paddy Connolly was speaking at a joint press conference held by nine national voluntary disability organisations calling on the Government not to cut services or social welfare supports in the budget.

Despite promises in the programme for government to “enhance” the quality of life of people with disabilities, the Government was “going in the other direction”, said John Dolan, chief executive of the Disability Federation of Ireland.

The organisations had come together because of “deep concern” over more than 800,000 people who have had “five years of unprecedented cuts to their ability to live ordinary lives in the community”, Mr Dolan said.

He called on the Government to “urgently rebalance” its recovery programme to also protect the rights and services of people with disabilities.

Cuts to disability funding would mean cuts to “essential services”, said Christy Lynch of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies. This was “the only place to go” because “low-hanging fruit” such as administration had already been cut

It comes to a point when it is “no longer possible to achieve further efficiencies” and organisations began to look at unpalatable cuts to “front-line services”, said Brian ODonnell, chief executive of the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies.

Concern over the real impact of cuts on the lives of people with disabilities were also expressed.

If disability allowance, home help or personal assistant hours were cut people would be “at risk of becoming institutionalised, of becoming restricted in their own homes”, said Karen Pickering of the Genetic and Rare Disorders Organisation.

A reduction in community services for people with mental health difficulties could see a return to an “institutional model” which was a “very significant concern”, said Orla Barry of Mental Health Reform.

The difference between having and not having a personal assistant service was the “ difference between existing and living” for many, said Gary Lee of the Centre for Independent Living. He called on Government to guarantee existing personal assistant funding as well as additional funds to tackle the waiting list.

One person on the waiting list is Co Clare-based wheelchair user Margaret Kinnane (49) who has been waiting for personal assistant hours for five years.

She was offered 10 hours per week by the HSE but has still not received them.

“What it affects the most is that I have no spontaneity,” she said. She was “disabled from becoming a member of society”.

The cost of personal assistant hours was “nominal” in comparison to a nursing home, she added.

Long-term implications of cuts were also raised yesterday. After the recession ends the State would face “the frustration and cost of sustained social stress” as well as “damaging levels of inequality”, Mr Dolan said.

The organisations making the call were the Disability Federation of Ireland, Care Alliance Ireland, CIL Carmichael, the Genetic and Rare Disorders Organisation, Inclusion Ireland, Mental Health Reform, Neurological Alliance of Ireland, Not for Profit Business Association and the National Federation of Voluntary Bodies.

They were seeking three areas of Government action: to halt reductions in basic standards of living for people with disabilities who need social welfare supports; to ensure disability services funding was sustained; and to show leadership on implementing the National Disability Strategy.