GROUPS representing people with disabilities have warned that many vital services which have been built up since the 1980s could be rapidly eroded by Government spending cuts.
The Disability Federation of Ireland, which represents the disability section of social partnership, says it will resist any attempts by the Government to target the most vulnerable.
“Services to disabled people and their families were decimated in the 1980s during the last recession, and there is every possibility that the same will happen again,” said the federation’s chief executive John Dolan. He said there was a direct relationship between the government’s management of the last recession and the slow development of disability services since then.
“We cut the heart out of the health service at that time and then expected it to be fit and ready to gear up at a moment’s notice,” he said.
“Social infrastructure can be easily and quietly downgraded and very difficult to rebuild. I witnessed this downgrading on a day-by-day basis in the 80s and it was not pleasant to be a witness.
“Once staff and expertise are lost it is very difficult to get them back and there are inflationary pressures built up in trying to fast-track such initiatives.”
Mr Dolan said he accepted value for money was needed in disability spending and some reorganisation of services may be needed.
However, he said if we allow a backlog in the provision of services it will create a false economy by causing immense difficulties for hundreds of thousands of people.
“At a general level the State would be very short-sighted to neglect the developing disability infrastructure because a neglected service will not be in a position to respond to the inevitable recovery and growth period.”
He added that because there was a historical deficit in the level of services available to people with disabilities since the 1980s, there was no scope to cut back further.
The Minister for State with responsibility for disability, John Moloney, has pledged to ensure sufficient funding is available to develop disability services despite the pressures on public spending.
He is expected to announce shortly plans for a wide-ranging review of the way public money is being used by the estimated 600 voluntary bodies that provide a range of services in the community. He is also expected to call on disability groups to share more services and avoid duplication.
