People with Disabilities Say No More Cuts!

National Protest March to Leinster House from Garden of Remembrance, 12pm Wednesday 7th July

Inclusion Ireland is co-coordinating a national march under the banner ‘People with Disabilities Say No More Cuts!’
People with a disability and their families will meet at the Garden of Remembrance at 12pm on Wednesday 7th July, marching down O’Connell Street, before assembling outside Leinster House.
The Disability Strategy has been dismantled and people with disabilities have faced cuts to services they receive, education supports and social welfare and this march will tell Government that enough is enough, people cannot take any further cuts. This message will go out loud and clear at the gates of Leinster House on 7th July.
Please forward this message to as many people as possible.
Full details of the statement explaining why this action is being taken is below.
If you have any queries please contact the office on 01-8559891.

People with Disabilities Say No More Cuts!



· National Protest March to Leinster House from Garden of Remembrance, Wednesday 7th July



Inclusion Ireland says Government must listen to people with disabilities and their families when they march on Leinster House on Wednesday 7th July. CEO Deirdre Carroll says “people with disabilities have been presented with cuts to essential services without prior consultation. The message will go out loud and clear at the gates of Leinster House on 7th July that this is not acceptable. The much lauded National Disability Strategy has been gradually dismantled over the last two years. This has been compounded by cuts to education and social welfare for people with disabilities.”



Disability Strategy:

The Disability Strategy as laid out in 2004 has been decimated:

July 2008 - Personal Advocacy Service as laid out in the Citizens Information Bill, deferred indefinitely;
October 2008 – complete rollout of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act, deferred indefinitely.
October 2008 – full rollout of the Disability Act, deferred indefinitely,
Deirdre Carroll says:

“In real terms this means that key provisions of the Strategy such as statutory entitlement to assessment of need for children of school going age and adults as well as Individual Education Plans for children are now on hold, and we will not have an advocacy service on a statutory basis. Funding to implement the strategy was not ring-fenced, and we are now paying the cost.”



Services:

“People with disabilities and their families have been presented with cutbacks to all services they receive over the past year, such as day and residential services, and in particular to respite services (short breaks), and have had no say in what was cutback. These services are not a luxury.”



Social Welfare:

In Budget 2010 there were cutbacks to Disability Allowance and Carers Allowance. This is an attack on the direct living standards and the quality of life of people with disabilities. There can be no further cutback in Budget 2011.



Education:

Since October 2008 education supports for people with a disability have been seriously rolled back: the much lauded legislation for people with special education needs has been deferred indefinitely (EPSEN Act); education supports such as special needs assistants have been reduced or cut; over 500 children are without special classes in mainstream schools since February 2009; and classes in mainstream schools have grown.



Siobhán Kane

Communications and Information Manager

Inclusion Ireland



Unit C 2, The Steelworks

Foley Street

Dublin 1

Tel: 01-8559891

Fax: 01-8559904

siobhan@inclusionireland.
www.inclusionireland.ie