Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would never age a colleague, but I do not think there is that big a difference in our ages so I am not sure how I have been a Government Minister almost all the Deputy's adult life. Leaving that aside, she likes to portray this Government's record in a certain way. That is fine, it is her job and I look forward to debating that on the campaign trail. This is the Government that steered the country through Covid, steered the country through the biggest inflationary crisis, created jobs for people, has been able to give people back some of their own money including additional child benefit payments as recently as this week, and has been able to take a range of measures that have made children's and parents' lives better. These include the roll-out of free schoolbooks and hot school meals. Now that the risk of a transatlantic trade shock is rising, we have managed to set aside resources to ensure my children never have to live through the austerity our generation did, so I am proud of much of the progress we made.

Moreover, when it comes to moving people out of their childhood bedroom, 50,000 people have been able to avail of the help-to-buy scheme. That is a scheme I do not think the Social Democrats support, meaning they would pull the rug from under first-time buyers.

The Deputy asked a very direct question, namely, what difference has been made since I decided to chair the Cabinet committee on disability. I will tell her four things. The first is we have ratified the optional protocol to the UN convention, which is something she feels strongly about. We got it done. Second, we have managed to adopt a proposal from the Labour Party on assessments of need and utilising private capacity to ensure more than 1,000 additional children got assessments of need they would not have got otherwise this summer. That happened. They are real children and those benefits have happened as a result of our work together. Third, we have managed to start the process of putting therapists back in special schools. That work is under way and is making a real difference. It is not saying to a parent of a child with special needs they must go from the school to a health waiting list, but actually putting therapists in the schools. We will continue to roll that out. Fourth, under that Cabinet committee on disability, we have worked across Departments to expand the number of training places in Irish universities to ensure we train enough people to work in speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. No matter who is in government or what the Department is called, we need more people to be able to work in this area.

The Deputy’s suggestion of a dedicated stand-alone Minister for disability has merit. The only counterpoint to make is that work somewhat started this time with the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, and then we had a migration crisis and the likes of that as well, in terms of the breadth of issues that Department is now dealing with. The Social Democrats’ suggestion about a stand-alone Minister for disability is a constructive, sensible one, but I would like to see how we would make that Department work to cut through the silos and deliver for people with disabilities.

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