Sir, - The Independent Living Network, which represents centres for independent living from all over Ireland, has made a pre-Budget submission for an independent living fund. Its total cost would be £12,642,160. This fund would enable people with significant physical disabilities to employ personal assistants on their own terms at a rate of £7 per hour.
At the moment I am one of 52 people with disabilities who employ personal assistants through the Irish Wheelchair Association. The rate is £4.28 an hour, rising to £5.05 an hour after 12 months. At these rates it is extremely difficult to find PAs because people are paid more than in the likes of McDonald's.
The network strongly feels that there would be a positive return to the Exchequer from the scheme we propose. Apart from the income tax and PRSI of the personal assistants, many people with significant disabilities who are mentally active become employable once they have personal assistants and of course they too would then be paying income tax and PRSI.
Many of the managerial staff in the Independent Living Movement have very significant disabilities and were considered unemployable before the advent of personal assistants. I myself wrote and published a book with the help of a personal assistant and I am now studying psychology with the Open University. It would otherwise be impossible for me to do this because it is extremely difficult for me to write notes and most of my energy would be going into the physical act of writing rather than the learning process.
I know of one young woman aged about 20 who is finding it very hard to get a PA to assist her in college. One day she had no one to even bring her to the toilet. I almost feel angrier for her than I do for myself. It is only with a personal assistant that this woman can have her full democratic right to freedom. Otherwise, she might have to go into residential care, which I see as nothing less than imprisonment if a person does not freely choose it. - Yours, etc.,
Peter Moore, St Michael's Cottages, Grange Road, Donaghmede, Dublin 13.