Cllr: ‘We should leave nobody behind’

Cork County Council must support the right for people living with disabilities to employ a personal assistant.

That’s according to Cobh Cllr Alan O'Connor who has called on the County Council to support a motion passed in the Dáil late last year reaffirming that personal assistant services (PAS) should be legislated for as a right.

“I think that anyone can appreciate the value of being able to choose how you live in and participate in society,” he said.

A PAS involves the employment of personal assistants by disabled people so that they may live as independently as possible.

Cllr O’Connor asked the council to consider his motion in recognition of Ireland’s ratification, in 2018, of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities which states that disabled people have a right to live in the community and have access to a range of in-home and other supports including PAS: “The role of that personal assistant might touch on all aspects of everyday life, household tasks like shopping, cooking or dressing, or in the work place or socialising.”

According to Cllr O’Connor, Ireland now has the lowest employment rate for people with disabilities in the EU, almost 20 per cent lower than the EU average.

He said: “I think recognition of the right would be a natural and necessary step towards a more inclusive society.”

Carrigaline Cllr Marcia D’Alton supported the motion. She said there are many people in Ireland ideally suited to helping those that are “in bodies that can't perform the way they wish they could”.

“I'm really delighted that we can lend our voices to the call for an equal as possible an existence for those who may perhaps have the greatest brains in our society,” she said.

County Mayor Gillian Coughlan added: “We should leave nobody behind and this is an essential aspect of that idea. If people need help in order to live their lives fully, I think that should be recognised and budgeted for a government level.”