Many people with disabilities are effectively prisoners in their own homes because of the State's failure to fund adequately services that could assist them live full and independent lives, a Dáil committee was told yesterday.
The Irish Wheelchair Association said it has upwards of 500 people on its waiting list for assisted-living services, some of whom are waiting three years.
The service, when available, helps people in different ways. It helps some get out of bed in the morning and wash and dress, and helps others to get to work or just get to the shops.
Director of services Ann Winslow said her organisation is able to assist 1,100 people in this way but 500 more are waiting for help.
"But it's a service they need now. You can't wait three years to get out of bed," she told the joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.
"Needs vary enormously amongst disabled people, depending on their particular levels of ability. Some require as little as a few hours per week, whereas others might require 24-hour support, with PAs [personal assistants] operating on a rota basis. We calculate the average requirement is around 30 hours per week, or 1,560 hours per year," she said.
"Based on this calculation, the Budget announcement of an extra 200,000 home-care hours would cater for 128 people but there are currently over 500 people on the Irish Wheelchair Association's waiting lists nationally.
"In order to clear our waiting lists we calculate that this figure of 200,000 hours would have to be quadrupled. However, the Irish Wheelchair Association is one of only a number of assisted-living services nationally, all of which have their own waiting lists. In addition, many people remain unaware of assisted-living services or are dependent on family carers who, in reality, should be supplanted by a personal assistant."
Ms Winslow said the Budget announcement of increased home-care hours was "a drop in the ocean" and that there was still no sign of them coming on stream.
An additional €8 million would have to be pumped into the service each year for the next five years to catch up, she said.
Olan McGowan, national advocacy and media officer of the association, said he needed a wheelchair after an accident nine years ago and he was able to avail of assisted-living services then, which allowed him to continue working. He said it was inconceivable that the service wasn't available to all who needed it as "we are an awful lot richer now than we were then".
Ms Winslow said the association had a centre in Clane, Co Kildare, to teach disabled drivers who had "high tech" needs but it was unable to open because there was no funding. In the meantime, those needing the training had to travel to Britain for it, she said.
She also criticised medical card thresholds as too low. They were the same for non-disabled and disabled people, even though disabled people often have additional costs, she said.
The association, she said, believed medical cards should only be given to over-70s on a means-tested basis.