An umbrella group representing 40,000 people with disabilities has threatened to mount pickets on the Dáil if the Government does not provide more funding for their organisations.
Nine agencies in the physical and sensory disability sector launched a campaign last month to highlight what they described as "chronic State underfunding".
The campaign began after the Budget allocated the sector one-sixth of the funding estimated by the Department of Health to be necessary for delivery of their services this year.
Groups involved in the campaign include the Irish Wheelchair Association, the National Council for the Blind and the Central Remedial Clinic. The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, is meeting the groups tomorrow to discuss their case. A spokesman for the group said they would not hesitate to step up their protest if progress was not made. "We will picket the Dáil, the Department of Health, whatever it takes to get satisfaction," he said. "We will definitely step up this action."
He said the campaign was in a powerful position in this pre-election period as it represented 40,000 people in the State.
The nine agencies warned that the lack of funding had resulted in unsafe work practices. They said staff were lifting patients on their own where two people were needed and trainees were not being adequately supervised because of the lack of staff.
Mr Mark Blake-Knox of the Cheshire Foundation said some people had to sleep in their wheelchairs because they did not have a care assistant to help them to bed.
