By the end of this year, nearly 200 people employed by the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) to provide various forms of assistance and respite care for its members will have lost their jobs because of a failure by the Coalition Government to keep its promises. It is a disgraceful situation in the European Year of the Disabled, of which the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is patron. And it is made all the more distasteful by a pass-the-parcel response to the crisis from the Departments of Enterprise and Employment and of Health.
The IWA is just the latest healthcare group in the voluntary sector to have marched on Leinster House in protest at the Government's actions. About 500 people participated in a rally yesterday to object to the dismissal of care workers, under the FÁS community employment scheme, at 46 day centres around the State. Those directly affected have been trained as personal assistants, cooks, drivers and respite workers, and they work mainly with elderly people.
Under the terms of the FÁS scheme, a limit of three years has been placed on such work. After that, individuals must either return to the dole or seek other employment. In recognition of this particular situation, however, the Government agreed to ring-fence the 417 jobs involved under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and to transfer responsibility for the service to the Department of Health. Since then, the Department of Health has declined to accept responsibility for the care workers on the grounds of increased cost. And the Tánaiste's department has insisted that the FÁS rules should apply. Already, 74 trained workers have been let go under the three-year rule, and that number is due to rise to 194 by the end of the year.
It is a crazy situation. Technically, the IWA could recruit replacement workers from the local dole queues, but they would then have to train and motivate them to work with disabled people.
Those removed from the FÁS scheme will receive almost the same remuneration if they return to the dole. There will be no appreciable saving to the State, but the quality of life of many senior citizens and of other persons with disabilities will deteriorate considerably.
The record of this Government in relation to the most vulnerable section of our society has been appalling. Last year, it was forced to withdraw a mean-spirited Disability Bill in the Dáil. A two-year-old report on people with intellectual disabilities who are not receiving vital State services has not been published. More than 6,000 elderly people are currently waiting for grants to make their homes accessible. And the Government's original decision in banning athletes from SARS-infected areas attending the Special Olympics was discriminatory.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, must sort out this new problem as a matter of urgency.