Disability Federation of Ireland Pre-Budget
Comments
To the Joint Committee on Education and Social
Protection
September 2014
John Dolan CEO of Disability Federation Ireland: Presentation to the Joint
Committee on Education and Social Protection
Introduction
I would like to thank the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection for
inviting me here today to outline DFIs core concerns prior to Budget 2015. Disability
is a societal, not sectoral, issue. It cuts across all sectors of society, and therefore
must be a key consideration across all government departments.
People with disabilities represent 595, 000 Irish citizens1, not including family, friends
and neighbours. People out of work due to illness or disability are five times as likely
to be at risk of poverty2 and survive on the lowest annual average disposable income
compared to other groups3. Families where the head of the household is not at work,
due to illness or disability, experienced an 11.3% drop in their disposable income in
the period 2010- 20124. Government in general, and the Departments here today
must use this Budget to deliver on its pre-election commitment and protect people
with disabilities from the worst effects of this recession.
The two departments represented at this committee, Education and Social
Protection, can, through their budgetary decisions, play a key role in protecting
people with disabilities access to income and access to necessary social supports and
services.
When we talk about ‘the disabled’ let us be clear who it is we are referring to: they
are our parents, our children, our neighbours. One in ten adults of working age have
a disability.
Central Statistics Office, Profile 8: Our Bill of Health (Census 2011).
In 2012, the ‘at risk’ of poverty rate for people ‘at work’ was 5.9% compared to 30.3% of people ‘not
at work due to illness or disability’. CSO (2014:16) Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2012,
Table 2.
3
The mean equivalised disposable income for people not at work due to illness or disability was
€14,101 compared to €25,930 of those at work. CSO (2014:13) Survey on Income and Living
Standards 2012, CSO, Government of Ireland.
4
Central Statistics Office, Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC).
1
2
Having an illness or disability in Ireland means that the odds are stacked against you:
 Individuals not at work due to illness or disability have the highest levels of
consistent poverty at 17.6%. This overshadows the national rate of 7.7%5.
 48% of this group are at risk of deprivation, in contrast to a national average
of 26.9%. This means that they struggle with the cost of adequate clothing
and heating, and cannot afford to eat a meal with meat or fish every second
day6.
 One third of young adults (25 to 29 years) with a disability left school before
completing second level compared to one in six of young adults with no
disability7.
 Only 20.7% of people with disabilities aged 15 and over are in employment
compared to 50% of the general population in the same age8.
However, despite the obvious need, and indeed naming disability as their number
one social justice priority, this Government has to date failed to protect people with
disabilities from the worst effects of the recession. Budget 2015 is the last budget of
this government, and of these Departments, to action changes that will stand to
improve the lives of people with a disability.
Disability Proof Budget 2015
Ireland is now at a critical stage in our economic recovery, with repeated calls for pay
rises and tax reductions from the trade union and business sectors. However, there
can be no further consideration of these approaches until there is a credible and
functioning community infrastructure to support people with disabilities and their
families.
Ibid.
Ibid.
7
Watson and Nolan, A Social Portrait of People with Disabilities in Ireland.
8
Census, 2011
5
6
Since 2008, there has been a steady erosion of the kinds of flexible supports that
facilitate choice, autonomy and independent living for people with disabilities. High
profile cuts to services and supports such as the reduction in Special Needs
Assistance in schools, the Household Benefits Package, and the closure of the
Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant to new applicants has contributed
to widespread distrust of this Government by people with disabilities and their
families.
Ensure that people with disabilities have an adequate income
We know that people with disabilities are disadvantaged on poverty and social
inclusion indicators and experience barriers relating to accessing health and
education services, and in labour market activation. It is not satisfactory that this
should persist in 2015. In 2011, 45% of people with disabilities experienced income
poverty and 36% of people with a disability experienced basic deprivation9. The
adverse impact of cuts and withdrawals imposed on people with disabilities since
2008 have pushed many individuals with disabilities and families with disabled
members to a point where they do not have adequate income and can no longer live
with dignity.
We can no longer accept the argument that the protection of basic payments
equates with the protection of basic income. It is clearly not the case when people
struggle on a daily basis to meet the basic costs of living, never mind the added cost
of having a disability in Ireland in 2014- which is estimated to be over €10,000 per
annum10. Instead of tackling this problem, we have seen a steady ‘chipping away’ by
this Government at the services and supports which form part of the social
infrastructure that allows people to live ordinary lives in their communities.
9
Central Statistics Office, Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC).
Cullinan and Lyons, “The Private Economic Costs of Adult Disability.” (Presentation at ESRI
Conference, September 2014)
10
This ‘chipping away’ at both disability specific and mainstream supports over the
years represents a complete lack of understanding of the challenges faced by people
with disabilities trying to live an ordinary life within the community. These include the
reduction in HSE funding for disability services, cuts to the Housing Adaptation Grant
schemes, reductions in Special Needs Assistance in schools, targeting of the Mobility
Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant, reduction in number of Personal
Assistance and Home Support hours available, cuts in the Household Benefits
Package, increased prescription charges, increase in the threshold of the Drugs
Payment Scheme, rolling back of free GP care for people with certain illnesses and
reduction in the Respite Care Grant.
These do not all come within the remit of these Departments, but the point is that all
these things add up to increased costs of living and a reduction of autonomy and
opportunity for people with disabilities and their families.
DFI calls for an increase of €20 to Disability Allowance as an emergency interim
measure to introduce an adequate income for people with disabilities that reflects
the level of “at risk” poverty and deprivation they experience and the extra cost of
living with a disability in Ireland. In addition, supplementary benefits such as
Household Benefits Package, domiciliary Care Allowance and Free Travel Scheme,
must be protected. This must include sustainable and long term solutions to protect
people with disabilities from the impact of future budgetary decisions such as the
introduction of water charges, beyond yearly budget cycles.
Ensure that People with disabilities are free to access employment and further
education programmes
Disability is one of the least visible but most potent factors in educational
marginalization. Beyond the immediate health-related effects, physical and mental
impairment carries a stigma that is often a basis for exclusion from society and
education. The ESRI commissioned report entitled, ‘A Social Portrait of People with
Disabilities in Ireland’, shows a reciprocal relationship exists between disability and
educational disadvantage. The report indicates that for each age group studied,
people with disabilities have lower levels of education than people without
disabilities, for example:
• Among people with disability, 43% have not progressed beyond primary
education, compared to 19% of all adults11.
• Over half of adults with a disability aged 60-64 have primary education or
less, compared to 38% of people without a disability12.
• 36% of adults with a disability in the 25-29 age group have a third level
qualification compared to 52% of adults with no disability in the same age
group13.
Access to education at all levels, is of critical importance in ensuring the full
participation of people with disabilities in Irish society and in exercising their full
citizenship.
The availability of Special Needs Assistants and the arbitrary cut in resource teaching
allocations mean that primary and second level children are not getting the support
they have been assessed as needing; Budgetary cuts must not in any way threaten or
negatively impact on the provision of SNA’s to support children with disabilities in
mainstream education. Furthermore, while it is essential that the SNA resource is is
fully available to ensure children with disabilities can participate in mainstream
education, it is also important that the role of the SNA is reviewed to ensure the
most positive outcomes for children with disabilities. Budget 2015 must provide
adequate funding for the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) to
ensure that children are being properly assessed in terms of the educational needs.
Underfunding of this service has created huge unfairness, with children being denied
Watson and Nolan, A Social Portrait of People with Disabilities in Ireland.
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
11
12
access to assessments of their educational needs because their parents can’t afford
to pay for them privately
Budget 2015 must attack the educational marginalisation of people with disabilities
so that they may exercise their rights in accordance with Article 24 of the UN
Convention on the Rights of People with disabilities and the National Disability
Strategy. Disability is a societal issue impacting on access and participation at all
levels in the education system.
Budget 2015 must also grant access to people with disabilities who wish to seek
employment to Intreo offices and services on par with their non-disabled peers,
regardless of the payment they are on. Young people with disabilities must be given
access to all programmes that sit under the Youth Guarantee on par with their peers.
They must be supported to participate where necessary, including access to
JobBridge, Momentum and so forth- they must not be left behind as the economy
recovers. Controls in the system need to be balanced with the creation of enough
flexibility to meet the needs of people who need to come on and off benefits
because of the episodic nature of their disability, and those who need to be partially
employed. We encourage the introduction of tax credits to support people with
disabilities to earn an adequate income that raises them out of poverty and ensures
that work pays, in recognition of the cost of living with a disability.
Ongoing issues such as access to therapy, speech and language, and special needs
assistants- to name but a few- must be tackled. People with disabilities are not going
back into special schools- they and their families believe and expect that they will
have a good education to prepare them for work and future living.
Conclusion:
In May of this year, the now Tánaiste Joan Burton, and Minister for Social Protection
said that:
"We have concentrated on economic repair up to now. Now is time for an equal
emphasis on social repair. Global bodies such as the IMF now recognise this and I am
confident that we can command wide support throughout Europe for policies that
emphasize social as much as economic repair.”
The Programme for Government 2011 stated that: ‘By the end of our term in
Government Ireland will be recognised as a modern, fair, socially inclusive and equal
society supported by a productive and prosperous economy’.
The question must be asked whether this government, four budgets in, and the
various departments within it, are making good on these statements.
People with Disabilities have been left behind.
There is now, thankfully, an opportunity to focus public spending at a number on
“pressure points”, as Minister Brendan Howlin said recently.
Disability is the greatest pressure point that people in Ireland face, as it comes when
and wherever, with whatever intensity it chooses into the lives of families already
trying to cope with the effects of a series of austerity budgets. Budgets which
deliberately took the greater part of their adjustments from public and social
services.
Education is the cornerstone for so many people with disabilities to have a future of
participation in this country. Income supports and other social protection measures
are equally vital to ensure that people have a basic income, and to live with dignity in
the community.
The Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) represents the interests and the expectations of
people with disabilities to be fully included in Irish society. It comprises organisations that
represent and support people with disabilities and disabling conditions.
The vision of DFI is that Irish society is fully inclusive of people with disabilities and disabling
conditions so that they can exercise their full civil, economic, social, and human rights and
are enabled to reach their full potential in life. DFI’s mission is to act as an advocate for the
full and equal inclusion of people with disabilities and disabling conditions in all aspects of
their lives.
There are over 120 organisations within membership, or as associates, of DFI. DFI also works
with a growing number of organisations and groups around the country that have a
significant disability interest, mainly from the statutory and voluntary sectors. DFI provides
information, training and support, networking, advocacy and representation, research and
policy development / implementation, and organisation and management development.
DFI works on the basis that disability is a societal issue and so works with Government, and
across the social and economic strands and interests of society.
Disability Federation of Ireland, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8
Tel: 01-4547978 Fax: 01-4547981
Email: info@disability-federation.ie Web: www.disability-federation.ie
The Disability Federation of Ireland is a company limited by guarantee not having share
capital, registered in Dublin.
Registered No. 140948, CHY No 6177.