Martin Daly highlights disability poverty trap and rehab gaps

Rather than around the budget, I suppose we're getting an opportunity to reflect. Our questions to the Taoiseach on disability today were cut short. We were over time, so it's good to get this opportunity. One of the big challenges, I suppose, is for adults living with disability, trying to escape the poverty trap. We know there's a cost of disability estimated at nearly €500 a week, and if you factor in their disability in terms of disposable income in a family, it can be eaten up to nearly 92% of their disposable income. So we know that disability is associated with poverty, we know it's associated with less opportunity to become employed, and even if you do become employed, that employment is probably on the lower scale of payment. I suppose it's the two sides of the same coin, the poverty and offering opportunity to people living with disability to get adequate training and education. Are we committed to that? You know, I think it's a huge importance, it's important as a human right, but it's also important to the person who's living with disability and their families to offer them hope. But it's also important to us as a state that we do the right thing. So I was just wondering your reflection on that. Yeah, thank you very much for highlighting this. I think it's really important, and I know it's something that's often discussed at this committee, and that's because it is hugely significant to disabled people who go out to work, who unfortunately then feel perhaps in some instances the negative impacts of that in terms of their household income. So that is something that is very much on the mind of the Department of Social Protection. They are part of our Cabinet Committee, and they're also part of the Monitoring Committee that we spoke about, that the Minister Foley spoke about, that we'll be meeting in two weeks' time. So we'll expect to see this as an issue covered in the Action Plan. It would be important that we focus on the barriers to gaining education skills, the barriers to employment, and also encouragement to employers. I know there are schemes already, but further on. There is a very significant wage subsidy scheme, again, rolled out by the Department of Social Protection. And I want to say some fantastic examples of companies who have taken up that opportunity. But there is space for so many more of them to follow the good example. And there has been recent increases announced by Minister Derek Leary in relation to that as well. I would really urge as many companies as possible to look at that. In terms of education and third-level education and further education opportunities and the assistance that's, you know, the personal assistance that might be required there as well. I want to acknowledge great progress has been made there at further and at higher-level education as well. And again, more and more in that space. And interestingly, I have a particular interest in that one myself, and I'll be really quick because I know we're cut for time. And I spoke with somebody recently who spoke to me about attending, we'll say, at third level. And the assistant that she had at that time was a fellow student. And she was just saying how positive that was because the person blended in so very well, like, you know, and it suited her and it was like just another companion, you know, supporting her or whatever the case might be. And I'd like to see us moving more and more into that space where, you know, fellow students or whatever can be the assistant that's provided or the personal support that's being provided. And it's something that I have raised, you know, with the Minister as well concerned. So just more and more to be done in that space. But it is about, you know, we can talk about all the strategies in the world and we can talk about all the money in the world. But unless an individual can feel that their lives have improved because of the money and the strategy and everything else, well, then we're not going anywhere unless we can actually say that with positivity. So there are very positive steps being taken and more and more in that space. Thanks for that. And on the newer rehab units around the country, I know in the west and northwest of Ireland, we have a dearth of rehab units. In fact, we have none. It's a black spot. And I know there was one committed to Ruscommon University Hospital in 2015 and a budget attached to it of 8 million euros. It disappeared from the capital plan surreptitiously around 24. We've picked up and we brought it up on the topical on the floor of the Dáil. It's back on the capital plan. And, you know, I mean, new rehabilitation is something that is absolutely a critical piece of infrastructure and it should be accessible to people. We're talking about no head injuries, acquired brain injury, stroke, spinal injury, and it needs to be accessible. The idea that people from the west of Ireland have to go to Dun Laoghaire to revamp maybe 200, 250 miles seems ridiculous. I would agree with you 100%. It's not a competency for ourselves in terms of health and all of that, but I absolutely agree. And it is transformative for families in particular, the service user, but for families in particular as well, that they can actually travel if it's just very close to them or whatever. So, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Let's move on to the next.