Disability Federation of Ireland Newsletter January / February 2009

There is no doubt but we are in challenging economic times. There is a deficit of €2 billion in the public finances for 2009. Services to disabled people and their families were decimated in the 80’s during the last recession and there is every possibility that the same will happen again. This gives us right to fear that the infrastructure of supports and services that have been built up in recent years to support people with disabilities will be eroded in the efforts of Government to stabilise the public finances.

On top of the 1% cut in ‘08, Budget ’09 introduced a further 1% cut for ’09 and we have just learned that the HSE has sanctioned a further 1% to take full affect in this year.

Social infrastructure can be easily and quietly downgraded and very difficult to rebuild. I witnessed this downgrading on a day-by-day basis in the 80’s and it was not pleasant to witness. Once staff and expertise is lost it is very difficult to get them back and there are inflationary pressures built up in trying to fast track such initiatives.If there is a backlog in the provision of services, this will create immense difficulties for hundreds of thousands of people all around the country – people who now have understandable expectations based on commitments made and who have real outstanding needs.

In this climate there are only two certainties: firstly the level of unmet need is growing and secondly there are no assumptions from our past and current ways of working that will assist us from here.We must however play our part in securing the provision of high quality supports and services to people with disabilities. How we do our work, governance and management, what other organisations and agencies we work with and the cost base of our activities all have to be seriously dealt with if we are to maximise essential service delivery to the people we are dedicated to serving.

DFI is working hard to develop essential and practical support for organisations to assist in the more difficult times that are ahead.

John Dolan
CEO