Madam, - I wish to register my extreme disappointment at the Disability Bill which was unveiled amid much fanfare last week.
Disabled people will receive services "where it is practicable" and depending on the "availability of resources". What this means is that people with disabilities will continue to take their chances along with thoroughbred race horses, the GAA and the numerous other "worthy" causes. In all likelihood the law of the jungle will prevail and the most vulnerable in our midst will continue to suffer.
Congratulations to the Government spin-merchants, who have once again peddled an illusion of caring while using the bill to effectively prevent parents from turning to the courts to secure services for their children - up to now the only means open to them. One has to ask how much longer the public will tolerate the hardships imposed on disabled people and their families.
The Bill guarantees a needs assessment for people with disabilities. Will it make a difference to the thousand mentally handicapped people languishing in the back wards of psychiatric hospitals in the most degrading conditions?
Will it make a difference to the families enduring the unbearable stress involved in raising a child with autism?
And will it make a difference to the elderly parents of disabled people who are afraid to die because their much loved adult children will be dumped into inappropriate facilities?
The answer, in all cases, is No.
Minister O'Dea states that no other country has rights-based legislation for disabled people. However, the need for a rights-based bill in this country is unique because of the nature of how services are provided to the disabled. A plethora of third party "voluntary" agencies absorb the lion's share of Government funding available to the disabled population. None of these agencies is fully accountable and they effectively act as gatekeepers to services - excluding those cases that are deemed too difficult or too expensive. Rights-based legislation may be considered unattainable by some but a radical overhaul of Ireland's flawed system is required so as to ensure an equitable distribution of services for all people with disabilities.
This Bill is a step back for people with disabilities. I believe it will take 20 Kathy Sinnotts in the Dáil before the human rights abuses (not to mention the denial of adequate services) perpetrated by this State against those with disabilities will end. - Yours, etc.,
Dr MARK HARROLD, Clinical Psychologist, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Madam, - While there is much to be welcomed in the recent Disabilities Bill, the bottom line still remains: services for the disabled will be dependent on "available" resources. Ministers allocate resources according to their perceived priorities.
If resources are not available for a particular service or sector, this means that other services or sectors are considered more important (or deserving). In the last Estimates, because resources were not available, the most savage social welfare cuts in my memory were implemented. During the following six months, this Government took in over €1.5 billion in taxes in excess of what they had expected. But the social welfare cuts were not reversed.
While essential services for drug users, homeless people and other marginalised groups were contracting because resources were not "available", €16 million was available for an equestrian centre and €50 million was available for an electronic voting system.
I simply have no confidence that this Government will give marginalised groups sufficient priority for the necessary resources to be made available, except in so far as it is politically expedient. - Yours etc.,
Father PETER McVERRY, SJ, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Upper Sherrard Street, Dublin 1.