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I AM SO angry about all the cuts that the Government have imposed on people in the last two years. But the real fact is that the hard-working people, carers, families, service providers, the youth, house owners, workers, the elderly who built this country to what we have now, are the people that are keeping community life going in every town and village in Ireland.
But I want to describe the real effects that the major cuts are having on people with disabilities in their daily lives. I will tell what I know and how it effects me, personally. Other people will have their own feelings and stories to tell.
What amazes me is Enda Kenny spoke face-to-face to a Cork girl, Joanne O’Riordan, who is a wheelchair user, and uses modern technology to live her life to the full. Joanne has no limbs. She met Enda while he was canvassing for the election two years ago and she asked him to promise their would be no more cuts to people with disabilities. He promised her in front of TV cameras, reporters and the people of Cork. He said there would be no more cuts. Obviously Enda was having a little day dream or a feel good factor on that day.
For me and my husband (a wheelchair user also) we have dealt with the cuts to the best of our ability. In the past year we’ve had to pay the ESB and telephone bills over three week period – we can not pay them in a lump sum. The ESB bill is around €170 too (as I am oxygen machine every night).
The telephone bill is approx €100, which I can not get rid of as my 80-year-old father rings me every night. I feel safe with the landline bedside my bed at night knowing I can’t run out of credit or the battery won’t run down. The land line for those with disabilities or most people who are living on their own is a necessity, it’s their security.
On the 26 February, the cuts to the Mobility Allowance and the Disabled Drivers Transport Grants were announced. I was enjoying a nice cuppa’ at the fire. I was half listening to the 9 o’clock news, I knew I had heard “DISABLED HIT AGAIN”. My husband came into the room and said I should listen. I can honestly say it was like someone had hit me in my stomach. I was shocked, mad, and a little unsure about what the broadcaster was actually telling us. We both just looked at each other. I cried as I felt I couldn’t take any more.
We are two of the lucky ones, as I work three days a week. But, at 50-years-old, I took out my first ever bank loan on the strength of my mobility grant and my husband applying for the Disabled Transport Grant. We are both wheelchair-users so my husband needed a van that he could drive. We eventually found one in England that was brought in for us. Disability comes with a high cost for accessible transport as it has to fit your individual needs.
We have to pay €350 a month back to the bank, (that was the lowest they could give us) over 5 years. Yes, it’s tough, but if I could explain to you just what it means to have accessible transport of our own, it still would not portray the happiness, the togetherness, joy it means to both of us. We go shopping on our own, we bring friends with us, we can go anywhere we want to without having to rely on other people. If there was no one around, we would be prisoners in our home.
We won our ‘lotto’ when we got our accessible transport. It also means I can attend meetings outside my town as I am very involved in my community.
The Department is taking the view that it was forced to take this action. The Department is not the victim here, the 4,700 people with disabilities and their families are the victims of what can accurately be described as an unprecedented and unannounced withdrawal of vital funding. This comes on top of the general attrition of the recession. I wait in haste to see in four month’s time what the Government will put in place of the Mobility and Disabled Drivers Grant.
This is not the only cut we have experienced over the Government’s two years. There’s been cuts in Respite Care, cuts in SNAs in schools all around the country, cuts in Health Board with aids and appliances including a long waiting list for ordering basic wheelchairs and housing grants. All of the above cuts have left people with disabilities tired and they can not fight much more for their rights. They have rallied to the Dáil on many of these issues in the past two years – but has anyone listened?
I am an activist and I won’t give up the fight for others or myself. We will not be going back to where we were 20 or 30 years ago, we can’t.
Let’s change the attitudes of our leaders. Let’s give people with disabilities the right to live their lives with dignity and with a voice.
Miriam Murphy is an independent town councillor in Arklow, Co Wicklow. Elected in June 2009 – her first time entering the race in local politics she was also elected mayor of Arklow town in 2010. She is a lobbyist and activist and also has a physical disability having used a wheelchair all her life.
The review of the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant Schemes is currently underway. As part of the review, a public consultation is taking place. Details of how to participate in the process can be found on the Department of Health’s Website. Submissions can be made on the form provided on or before 5pm on Wednesday 17 April 2013.
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Come on! Stop targeting the already disadvantaged. It’s embarrassing.
Is there anything ‘good’ coming out of this government AT ALL??
Absolutely disgraceful!
The allowance as it stood was found to be illegal by the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly. In order to comply with the Equal Status Act, it had to be scrapped.
Not the only option available. They could have extended it the over 66′s as Ms. Logan wanted. By choosing this path, they did not just cut support, they sent out a strong message to equality advocates, this govt. will bring down supports for all, if we seek inclusive equality .
Little bit selective there Joe,the Ombudsman found the age barrier illegal not the scheme.
I hope an alternative can be found but what choice did they have when the only option was to expand a service that cost €10 million euro per year to one that would cost over €300 million euro per year – an expanded service costing 30 times the cost of the existing one was plainly not feasible.
Louise- where was the money for the over 66′s coming from? Bullying the State to increase expenditure seems to have backfired in this instance. Though as I understand it, the funding has not been cut but rather will be dispersed in a different way.
Kevin Cardiff, who mismanaged 3.5 billion is entitled to 350,000 eu in pay & perks in the European Court of Auditors. Ireland is sending more than 21 million euro to Malawi, on top of whatever millions they decide to send to other countries. Not foodstuff mind you, but cash. Phil Hogan and his entourage have clocked up a bill of at least 133,000 over the past two years. All these things are being done at a time when the basic needs of the disabled are being cut bit by bit. This country is finished unless people can wake up and smell the rotten odour That permeates all departments of this government. All the perks they enjoy, all the fat pensions they will walk away with, all at the expense of the disabled, the poor, the aged, even the youth who are struggling to get a start in life with a half decent job. It’s getting worse each month that goes by. Hospitals have been cut in funding so badly, that no one is safe unless they have insurance which none of the poor have. When the little help the disabled were getting has been taken in July, many will be prisoners in their own homes, and unlike the prisoners in jails will get no free legal aid.
Thankfully, I do not have a disability & do not have to depend on this government to decide the amount of mobility I have based on the awarding of grants.
One thing I do know is that disabled people should be looked after. How we look after the vulnerable reflects how we operate as a society.
These people cannot really take to the streets, but I for one am prepared to protest / march on their behalf.
very well said zebedee.
I found it quiet disturbing that one Sunday (recently) there was an article on the news paper about Ireland’s rich list what the have etc,,and how the gap between rich and poor is widening ,,, next day my mother got a letter saying the mobility allowance for my sister is gone,,, (she is mentally and physically disabled) it just seems the rich aren’t been touched
Have you not yet realised that the media in Ireland is on the side of the wealthy ?
Yes sir I have,,, it’s reading about Ireland’s rich on Sunday and Monday reading a letter about getting allowance cut/gone what a difference a day makes eh!!!
Seems to me that if you try to do something with your life in this country your targeted.. Drive a car, nice, necessary or otherwise, you pay tax on it, own a home, you pay tax on it, hold down a half decent job, your taxed, people who genuinly need help from the government and its taken away..
Yes. The country was bankrupted by Fianna Fáil. It was in the news?
enda and his gang of idiots are constantly telling lies. He told that young and very outgoing girl in cork no more cuts to the disabled. But as usual he told lies again. He would make you sick just to look at him
Catherine- the funding for this has not been cut. So what lie are you talking about?
I know there is blindly following the party line but come on now. Have u ever had an independent thought or comment Vincent? Have you heard of kindness and empathy? Are you so completely brain washed? The lady said her allowance was cut and she can’t make ends meet. Are you so deluded that you would prefer to call her a liar blame the previous gov whose policy’s your party has adopted and give billions of the people’s money to pay for your deluded dodgy notes than show one second of contrition? You must be well in but it ways you are more disabled than the author blind, stupid and deluded and unable to see what’s really happening.
Solbank- the total budget is ring fenced. So it can’t be called a cut. Because of an ill-advised court case that same budget will have to serve a much wider group. Blame the instigators of that court case. And it’s ironic you accusing me of bring blinded by party loyalty when you yourself are so devoid of any sort of objectivity that facts have no place in your interpretation of absolutely anything that comes from this Government. More fuel for your anti-Government rhetoric is all you want.
Yes fair enough this is a bad government, but anti government hardly. I would say up to last year I had no interest in politics, until I saw the human cost of this horrific train crash one!!! When it comes down to it the paddy party whip system is at fault. How can any once decent human being go into the Dail in the middle of the night and brutally enslave its own people it must be soul destroying. I know you are probably a paid hack and socialized into bad behavior and god love you really. I don’t know how traitors feel in the end deluded forever I suppose.
It’s unbelievable what the leaders of our country get away with……..
A sick country run by sick bast@@ds
All the government ministers lied to get elected, what they are doing to society as a whole is a disgrace and they should be opposed at every turn. Personally I value society above money but they wouldn’t know about those values, greedy parasites
Robbie- all this money you want to spend. Quick question: where exactly are the Government going to get it from?
@Vincent- eh, maybe if the government ministers stopped creaming off so much for themselves there would be more money to go round to those who need & deserve it!
You’re right Rita. Over 36 million per annum for their expenses.
I have a disabled son and they are sneaking cuts all the time,I am disgusted to hear they never touch the free legal aid.Why is my son targeted and not prisoners.
Legal aid fees have been cut twice. Not an excuse, just your comment is wrong.
this country needs a revolution
I have a nephew who is disabled and his family relied a great deal on the allowance.
I’ve read the comments above and I can appreciate that there is a need to be prudent in the expenditure of public funds.
It so happens that before I emigrated 18 months ago I was in the visitors waiting room of a prison in Ireland. A man sat beside me…not given to chat he ignored my efforts at small talk. I knew the prison officer in charge that day and asked about this middle aged apparently comfortable individual. He was a solicitor ‘consulting’ with an inmate, a client. His name was called, he went in and returned 20 minutes later. His fee for the consultation €100+. We all know what consultation means in a prison to someone of free legal aid. My point is that my nephew’s quality of life and that of his family was severely damaged whilst the ‘allowance’ (for that is, what it is under free legal criminal aid) remained untouched. To Mr Dolan and others of the Thatcherite persuasion, I would say that choices were made in respect of cuts and some citizens were deemed more worthy than others.
Are you saying prisoners should not get legal representation or only advice if its the cheapest? Croke park2 is admitting that its better to cut wages than have services continually cut till they are not worth the reason for having them at all.
Read what I’ve written…’choices were made in relation to cuts’ the elites never get cut legal profession,medical consultants etc. You need to talk to a prisoner who was the beneficiary of this ‘representation’.We’re not talking about Greth Pierce here or Michael Mansfield…we’re talking about jobbing solicitors! See them in action sometime in the district court…It’s embarrassing.
Very sad and I empathise with you.
However if you can write a column and use a computer perhaps you could contribute (through employment) to your own existence.
Obviously cuts to truly dependant people are inexcusable while social welfare goes untackled.
Sorry, I missed the part about her employment. Miriam obviously is striving to lead as normal a life as possible and should be commended.
Further, as one can’t delete a comment or even edit it I must apologise for the heartlessness and premature nature of my above post.
It disgusts me that a contributing member of society such as Miriam is left in despair while junkies, travelers, and their offspring have every one of their needs met.
To your credit you u-turned when you realized you were wrong, this government are too arrogant to do the same
Your second post is equally as heartless and judgemental as your first.
I respectfully disagree. While some have houses and clothing provided for them others have less then the bare minimum for survival. Such deviation is a disgrace,
But please detail your issue and I will certainly review my comment.
‘junkies, travellers and their offspring’ ? As if they are less worthy individuals who have no needs or rights. You are trying to redeem yourself after your first post by demeaning others.
Not so. I gave examples of the types of people who are perceived and stereotyped as being net recipients of exchequer finances. I did not demean these people or make any comment as their character or otherwise.
If you are trying to claim not working and seeking employment and being disabled are equally worthy with regard to welfare payments, then I fear we are too far apart in ideology to ever come to agreement.
“it disgusts me that a contributing member of society”….what you are suggesting whether you mean to or not is that “junkies, travellers and their offspring” are not contributing members of society, effectively tarring them with the worthless brush. That is demeaning. Welfare payments are for people in difficulty, but every case is different with varied levels of needs. It’s not up to you to decide who is more worthy or deserving especially when it’s based on such a superficial perspective.
It is ironic that the government is able to provide funds for free legal aid to alleged offenders, €21million for foreign aid and millions to be spent on holding the EU presidency etc, and yet they (government parties) have no qualms regarding cutting funding to the most vulnerable people in our society.
Amen to that, eimer, he just realized how bad his stinking comment made him look. Never mind, plenty of other folk to be kicked.
Not much of any apology there, Stephen. So the disabled are only deserving of help if they contribute to society? A very arrogant simplistic view you have there.
Stephen,
DId you even read the article??
Mrs Murphy already stated she works 3 days a week.
Sorry, I missed that and have rectified my comment to the best of my abilities. My apologies for any offense caused by the thoughtlessness and insensitivity of that comment.
This Government just keeps taking and taking how much more suffering can decent Ordinary People in this BLOODY COUNTRY TAKE
How outraged are we as a society when funding is cut to the most vulnerable in our society? Rhetoric means very little to individuals whose disability is exacerbated by the failure of society to grant them equal rights and opportunities. When the next election comes around, how many of the ‘outraged’ will bother voting, never mind voting against the ff fg lab blah blah self serving bourgeoise.
I would suggest that you inform Anne Ferris that you will run against her in the next election. I will vote for you.
Miriam, I am heartsick for you and for the plight of your family. I am at a loss as to what to say to comfort you. There is a terrible anger growing in this country which our politicians would do well to note. The current shower will not stand for re-election, but those who follow them should beware. People, when Brian Hayes or ms Creighton or Leo come knocking on your door remember this article.
Enda, Eamon and their cohort don’t give a shit about the likes of Ms Murphy and her husband. Once they get their wages and expenses, the rest of us can go hang … And unfortunately some people do.
Yes these are broken promises they are politicians after all. Before you complain about FG/Labour Gov. Remember what FF did.
And we are sending €21 million to Africa!
Enda Kenny’s Government withdrew the mobility allowance at the same time it spent 250,000 euro on a website to promote threesome sex for teenagers. The Government is sick!
Vincent dolan you truly are an idiot. But i am happy that you’re not relying on any disability allowance/benefits/payments to survive in this expensive country.
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