Disability federation:The Disability Federation of Ireland has said it is "very disappointed" at the level of understanding of the disability agenda shown by the main political parties.
The association has reviewed the manifestos of the main political parties to see how they deal with disability. Federation spokesman John Dolan said that while there had been a "welcome marked improvement" in the way manifestos were now dealing with disability, politicians still had a lot of work to do.
"Our recent experience of candidates from across the parties in responding to and understanding the disability agenda is very disappointing," he said.
The federation is an umbrella group for voluntary disability organisations, representing more than 150 groups.
In its programme for government, it calls for greater funding for voluntary organisations that provide services to people with disabilities. None of the parties gave a direct commitment to allocate enough funding for the provision of these services, it says.
"It is incredible that all the parties did not simply sign up to this, as the overall cost is less than €50 million," Mr Dolan said.
"It is unacceptable that in 2007, with one of the most buoyant economies in the world, the sector is still so dependent on fundraising and community employment schemes to provide essential health and personal social services."
He said parties had no difficulty in setting out their views on stamp duty but could not give a commitment to people with disabilities. "We can see no reason why parties are not dealing with the cost of the disability issue and the underfunding of voluntary disability organisations with the same clarity that they have shown on other issues."
The federation has also called for the implementation of the National Disability Strategy, which aims to increase the participation of people with disabilities in society.
"We are now also asking the parties to clarify that the resources to fully implement the National Disability Strategy are ringfenced independently of specific commitments relating to changes in the tax system," Mr Dolan said.
The federation estimates up to 400,000 people in the State have some form of disability.
