Paul Murphy accuses Government of cynicism on disability supports
Paul Murphy challenged the Government in the Dáil over the state of services for children with disabilities, saying pilot schemes and task forces had produced only marginal improvements. He accused the Government of cynicism for allowing a motion to pass while having no intention to implement its 17 specific demands.
Main criticisms of the Government
Murphy said marginal improvements do not address a "horrendous" situation, citing waiting times that fall from six years to five years and eight months as still unacceptable. He argued the Government routinely allows motions to pass without intending to convert their commitments into concrete action.
Specific policy demands referenced in the speech
Murphy highlighted the motion's 17 asks and singled out number 12 - immediate ratification of the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) - as one the Government will not implement. He also said the Government does not intend to scrap the means test for people on disability allowance or for carers allowance, nor to make payments that cover the real costs of disability, and questioned the claim to invest an additional £2.5 billion in 2025 as called for in number 17.
Concerns on staffing, training and service delivery
Murphy warned of a staffing crisis across services - therapists leaving due to low pay, poor conditions and unaffordable housing - and criticised pilot programmes that merely shift therapists from community disability networks (CDNTs) into schools. He urged removing barriers to further education for these professionals - fees and accommodation - and called for doubling university places, ensuring AONs are carried out, and providing training and support for teachers, SETs and SNAs.
Call for public pressure and campaigning
Murphy said the only way to force government action is sustained campaigning pressure from parents and supporters, including those in the Dáil galleries and demonstrators outside the Dáil next Thursday. He emphasised that parents should not have to fight for these entitlements and that public pressure must shame and force the Government into action.
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Thanks to everybody who participated in the debate. I have sat through many debates like this in the Dáil and I have heard the Minister's responses in the past. I have heard about the pilot schemes, heard about the task forces, heard about the marginal, marginal improvements in what is a horrendous situation. It is still horrendous. If you go from waiting six years for an intervention that your child needs to waiting maybe five years and eight months, that is still a horrendous, unacceptable situation. I don't doubt the Minister's sincerity. I definitely believe that she cares. But I do not believe what you said, that the Government is fully committed to families of children with disabilities. I do not believe that the Government wants to convert any of that care into action that will make a meaningful difference to these hundreds of thousands of families. And I believe that an illustration of that is the Government's approach to the motion tonight. I really think, and this is their regular approach, this is what they do every time now with motions on this issue. They are not opposing our motion. They are going to allow the Dáil to pass it. But like Breed said, you have no intention of implementing it. I mean, there are 17 very, very clear asks here. How many of them do you intend to implement? I don't believe you intend to implement a single one of them. And that's just then the height of cynicism. It makes a joke of this democracy, that you're able to bring in a motion, say we need to do this, and the Government's able to let it pass, and the Dáil will officially say these things, but then you don't intend to do them. I'll give you an example, number 12, immediately ratify the optional protocol of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. You do not intend to immediately ratify it. Why? Because if you do, then the likes of Greg Lewis, or the likes of Charlotte, the likes of people whose children are denied the education that they are entitled to, under Article 24 of the UNCRPD, education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live, they could take action against the state. So you don't intend to do that. You don't intend to scrap the means test for those on disability allowance. You don't intend to scrap the means test for carers allowance. You don't intend to make sure that they are payments that cover the real costs of having a disability. The budget is a week and a half away. You do not intend to do that. You do not intend, as number 17 calls for, to invest an additional £2.5 billion and massively expand funding for disability payments in 2025, as the first year of a transformational multi-year programme to end exclusion and poverty for disabled people, and ensure that no one is left behind. I do not believe that you intend to implement a comprehensive plan for staff retention across the relevant services, addressing in particular pay and conditions. We all hear these awful stories of people who become therapists because they want to help children, and then they are trapped in this awful situation of managing massive waiting lists, not being able to do what they do, under massive pressure, unable to afford housing, and then leaving, going into the private sector. This, like, spiral, downward spiral. And it relates to the point about the pilot programmes in the schools. Yes, it would be good if we have therapists in special schools. Obviously, that makes sense. Yes, it would be good if we had therapists in every school. Absolutely. But if you are just moving the therapists from out of the CDNTs into the schools, well, then you are going to create an extra problem. The fundamental issue is to address that issue of staffing, and that gets to the point in terms of the barriers, removing all the barriers to further education for those in these professions. That is the question of fees. That is the question of accommodation. We could have these people on our courses and actually relatively quickly would be on the ground, assisting while learning, etc. Doubling the number of places available in universities. Ensuring that AONs are carried out and recommended supports. Ensure delivery of adequate training and support for teachers, SETs and SNAs. We have a programme here which would make a meaningful difference to all those people. And the stall will adopt it. We will say that this is our position. But it really is the height of cynicism that the Government does not intend to do it. I will finish with this just to say that the only way the Government will be forced to do any part of these is precisely by the campaigning pressure, by the people who are in the Galleries today, by all those who are watching, by those who will be outside the Dáil next Thursday. They have to be shamed into it. They have to be pressured into it. They have to be forced into it. It is not right. These parents should not have to fight. They really shouldn't. It is outrageous that they have to. They have enough on their plates already. But that is what will ultimately make the difference. Thank you. Thank you.
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