‘Enda broke his promise to me’

Whilst Kenny and Lynch will retire on good pensions, FG and Lab continue to implode.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/enda-broke-his-promise-to-me-224216.html

Friday, March 01, 2013

Outspoken disability campaigner Joanne O’Riordan has accused Taoiseach Enda Kenny of again backtracking on “his personal promise to me” that disability funding would not be cut under his rule.

By Claire O’Sullivan and Mary Regan

Joanne, who was born with no limbs, addressed a UN technology conference in New York last year and won a string of awards for her campaigning. She said she was disgusted that “Enda Kenny looked me in the eye before the general election and promised me one thing and then once again, did another”.
Meanwhile, Kathleen Lynch, the minister with responsibility for disability issues, said she could not guarantee that those currently in receipt of the mobility allowance will be entitled to the same transport provisions when their payment stops in four months’ time.

Earlier this week, the Government decided to scrap the mobility allowance and the motorised transport grant, paid to approximately 5,000 people with disabilities. The full grant is worth €208.50 per month.

Ms Lynch said: “The people in receipt of this allowance, they use it for taxis, they use it for public transport, they use it for a range of issues... So to say that you could guarantee that they would have the same service in four months’ time as they have now, you can’t do that. What we are going to do is look at what their needs are and to ensure that those needs are met.”

Joanne’s mother Ann said she could not believe “the minister had the cheek to say she was agonising and agonising” over removing the mobility grant.
“Agonise? She doesn’t have to agonise any night. She can get into bed herself and get out of bed herself. She doesn’t need somebody to look after her the way we have to look after our children with special needs. We’re on call with the car for Joanne 24/7. I don’t go outside the door. I haven’t been outside the door since Joanne was born. I’m there for Joanne 24/7. I’m not complaining. I’d do it all over again, but don’t talk to me about agonising,” she said.

Meanwhile, an Oireachtas committee has requested the Department of Health’s top civil servant appear before it, following the axing of the mobility allowance and grant.
In a letter, the committee members said they were “increasingly concerned at the difficulties in the relationship between the ombudsman and the Department of Health”.

The chairman of the joint Oireachtas committee on public service oversight and petitions, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, said the Department of Health “is constantly failing to learn from past mistakes” and requested Dr Ambrose McLoughlin to attend the committee next week.
“The mobility grant scheme is not the first scheme that the department has failed to roll out properly. It just can’t seem to get the design of schemes correct,” said Mr Mac Lochlainn.

The department blamed the axing of the two schemes on the burden it would put on the exchequer if they were to operate in accordance with Equal Status Acts.
The department had been repeatedly warned by Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly that by putting an upper age limit of 65 years on the schemes, they were in contravention of the legislation. Ms O’Reilly also recommended that the definition of disability under the schemes be broadened.
Picture: Enda Kenny gives his pledge to Joanne before the election