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IWA staff & members from across Ireland presented its Budget24 submission to government in Dublin recently.
IRISH Wheelchair Association members and staff from across Ireland, including from Kerry, marched on Leinster House on Wednesday to present its pre-budget submission to Government.
Members and employees from across Ireland gathered to plead with the government to ‘hear our voice’ and ‘not abandon people with disabilities’ in Budget ’24.
Kerry based Irish Wheelchair Association Service Coordinator Terry O’Brien warned that daily services and in particular assisted living services throughout the country are being hit hard due to government inaction and it is a real worry.
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“We know that 1,300 young and middle-aged people with physical disabilities across Ireland have been forced to live in nursing homes because of the lack of wheelchair accessible housing and also because of the lack of living supports. Many disabled people need support to live independently such as personal assistants, our assisted living service. Without these services young and middle aged people are prevented from living an independent life.”
“Ireland needs to plan ahead to ensure that people with disabilities get the right services, in the right place at the right time. People want choice not charity” said Terry O’Brien.
One of the key issues of concern centres around pay parity for section 39 workers which is already having a detrimental effect on vital services as IWA struggles to retain and recruit staff who are leaving to work for the HSE where they are getting paid better for doing the same job. The cost of disability, housing, independent living and transport access are also key issues.
As the voice for its 20,000 strong membership living with a physical disability across Ireland, IWA is making 33 key recommendations in its comprehensive pre-budget submission across 7 pivotal areas: Sectoral Funding, Personal Assistants, Housing, Transport, Day Services, Social Protection and Sport.
Latest data from Census 2022 shows that 22% of the population (1,109,557 people) have a disability of some extent and that this generally increased with age – from 4% of people aged 0-4 years to 76% among the over 85’s.
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