There is something deeply reprehensible about what is happening to disabled people in the country. They have sustained a fundamental attack on their quality of life over the past two years. Their disability allowance has been cut as have their home help hours and the number of personal assistants. The domiciliary care allowance has been targeted along with funding therapies for people with disabilities. The respite care grant was cut in the most recent budget.

I know 128 people with disabilities who also have the mobility allowance. As with thousands of people throughout the country, they are deeply fearful about what will happen to their allowance at the end of June. Having spoken to groups throughout the country this is fast becoming a human rights issue.

I understand the working group appointed by the Department of Health on the mobility grants issue has completed an interim report and is examining the best use of the allowance moneys. I am told the Department of Health has received a memo for other Departments to consider how best to feed back into the interim report. This will come to the Government for consideration, I am told reliably, at next week's Cabinet meeting. Will the Tánaiste confirm whether the recent Department of Health consultation on the mobility allowance has concluded and whether he has read the memo and seen the interim report?

The final payment under the current scheme falls due at the end of June so a Government decision on this issue is imminent. Will the Tánaiste confirm whether the project group has recommended a solution on this issue and whether these recommendations will be implemented before the end of June in time for the existing scheme? Will the Tánaiste confirm whether representatives of all the disabled citizens' groups were consulted by the review group? My information is they were not. Does the Tánaiste not think it is essential the voices of people with disabilities are heard in this process?

The cumulative effect of cuts to allowances in services for disabled people is leaving people throughout the country disillusioned, marginalised and ghettoised. The cost-cutting measures have radically changed how disabled persons integrate into society. The decision on the allowance will be made in a few weeks time. Thousands of people throughout the country are concerned, disillusioned and disenfranchised and so are their families. We need clarity on this now and not in the week the allowance is due when it may very well be cut. We need to give people one month's notice at least on what will happen to the €10.8 million, a relatively small sum of money, provided for those in society who are less well off and disenfranchised and who, with their families, bear a burden which very many of us will never have to bear. We need clarity on this issue today.

Hear, hear.

The Government is very conscious that many people cannot access public transport and rely on supports such as the mobility allowance and the motorised transport payments for their mobility and transport needs. We are also conscious of the Ombudsman's reports and her recommendations that the scheme has been operating outside the law for approximately 12 years. A project group was established to examine how best to meet the needs of people who rely on these supports and to report back within three months. The draft report is with the Minister for Health, and I understand it is his intention to bring it to the Government in the near future. The Deputy specifically asked whether I had seen the memo. I have not, and will not do so until the Minister brings it to the Government.

We have made it clear that funding for the mobility allowance and the motorised transport payments remains ring-fenced, but we are required to place it on a legal footing. The challenge is to find a solution which will best meet these needs in the budget available. At a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, outlined the dilemma faced by the Department in respect of these two schemes.

It is not a funding matter; it is a legal matter. On the one hand, the Ombudsman has identified that neither scheme is compliant with the Equal Status Acts and that they have been operating outside the law for about 12 years. On the other hand, the extension of either scheme as recommended by the Ombudsman would create serious financial pressure on the health budget. As the Deputy knows, we are not in a financial position to do that right now and it would not be sustainable.

A broader consultation was undertaken as part of the project group's work to ensure that as wide a range of views as possible was taken into account. I am not aware of any interest group that was not consulted, but if the Deputy knows of any interest groups that have not been heard to date, I am sure the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, will be happy to hear from them.

In seeking a solution to address the transport and mobility needs of those who require these supports, we are concerned about the group of people who are currently benefiting under these schemes. However, we also have to consider the needs of the broader group, as the Ombudsman has recommended that they must be looked after on an equitable basis. I am confident that we can find a solution which will meet these needs within the available budget.

I am shocked that the Tánaiste would think that spending €10.8 million on many people who are the most marginalised in society would put such financial constraints on the health budget. The mobility allowance is not about going to work or to the supermarket; it is the broader picture. It is about access, integration, independence, human rights and equality. That is how those affected see it. I do not believe the Tánaiste would be insensitive to or in any way dismissive of the most vulnerable in society. Many of us, including the Tánaiste, have met people who are on the mobility allowance. I have been in 128 homes to meet the people affected and I make it my business to check out all my facts and figures. They feel marginalised and think they are being treated insensitively. They do not have the same mobility as we have and they need an extra bit of help. Any attempt to cut €10.8 million from a budget is reprehensible and I would be deeply disappointed in the Tánaiste and the Labour Party if this were done. I am not here to make any derogatory attacks on the Labour Party or the Tánaiste. He knows that I am not that type of person. However, a few thousand people are suffering terribly as they cannot move from their own homes. The Minister for Health said this would be a huge cut in the budget, but many people will be offended if that remark is not withdrawn.

Let me be absolutely clear about this. There is no cut in the €10.8 million which is allocated for these purposes.

There is a cut.

No. Let us deal with the facts. The Government has always been quite satisfied to continue the mobility allowance and the motorised transport scheme. That has always been our position. The Government is not seeking to end the mobility allowance or the motorised transport scheme. What has happened is that the Ombudsman has found that the operation of those schemes does not comply with the terms of the Equal Status Acts, and she has recommended that they be extended to a much wider catchment than those who currently have them. The existing budget is about €10.6 million. The financial consequence of the extension recommended by the Ombudsman would be to raise the figure from €10.6 million to €100 million in the case of the mobility allowance, and €200 million over a three-year period for the motorised transport grant.

That is not the question.

Those estimates are wrong.

The estimates are wrong.

We are seeking to find a solution by which there will be no reduction in the money that has been allocated, as I said earlier. The money allocated for both schemes is ring-fenced and there will be no reduction in it. We are trying to find a solution that will meet the legal requirement highlighted by the Ombudsman. A project group has been established to examine that and consult with the people affected - that is, those who hold the mobility allowance and benefit from the motorised transport scheme - and the representative groups to which they belong. That process has been done and a report on it is with the Minister for Health. He will bring recommendations to the Government arising from that.

It is important to be clear about this matter. This is not a case of the Government cutting money or deciding to end schemes. This is a case in which the Ombudsman has made a recommendation which clearly states that the operation of those schemes is outside the terms of the Equal Status Acts. She has further made recommendations which would have an enormous financial cost attached to them. Therefore, we are trying to find a resolution that will be legal and that will be within the ring-fenced budget that is already allocated for those schemes.