The Department of Health and Children and the health boards will not be legally obliged to provide extra services for the disabled, the Government's draft Disability Bill makes clear.
Under the proposed legislation, improved health and education services for the disabled will be offered if "resource constraints" permit, The Irish Times has learned.
The long-awaited legislation, which was expected to be published next week, could now be delayed for up to a month following objections from disability groups. The groups have consistently campaigned for rights-based legislation which should be enforceable by the courts.
Department of Justice officials stressed "resource constraints" when they met with the Disability Legislation Consultation Group (DLCG) two weeks ago.
The disability representatives were required to sign a declaration of confidentiality before they were briefed on the Government's plans by Department of Justice assistant secretary Ms Sylda Langford.
In her presentation, the justice official made clear that the availability of resources would influence the implementation of every section of the legislation.
"In approaching the legislation, the Government has had to balance the response to the needs of the various sectors in society, including people with disabilities, with available resources," the DLCG was told.
Plans for a Disability Bill before the last general election collapsed after disability groups forced the Government to back down when they complained the proposals did not give legally-enforceable rights.
Under the Government's current proposals, the health and education needs of a disabled person will be independently assessed, though it is not clear if the training and residential needs will equally be investigated.
"There will be a phased introduction of assessment arrangements. This approach takes account of a finite number of health and other professionals available nationally to provide assessments and services," the Department of Justice's presentation made clear.
Health boards will be responsible for preparing individual service statements. "(They) will respond to important needs in a realistic way taking account both of the content of the assessment and resource constraints."
Furthermore, the service statement will "take account" of the assessment prepared earlier, along with "the eligibility of the person for a service and the practicability of providing the service".
In addition, independent complaints officers will have to take account of a health board's available resources before he/she overturns a ruling.
Under the proposals, the judgments of the complaints officers and health board chief executives can be appealed to a new, independent appeals office.
Here again resources will influence final decisions. "The appeals officer will investigate the appeal, have regard to the criteria (including the resources available to the health board) in coming to a decision (and) issue a decision which is binding on the CEO of the health board."
The ruling of the appeals officer can be challenged "on a point of law" to the courts, though not on any other grounds.
In a statement on Sunday, the DLCG rejected a claim made last week by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, that the legislation had been delayed because the DLCG required "further time" to reply.
"The suggestion from the Taoiseach that (we) required further time to come back with comments" is not accurate.
The group said it received a briefing from Government officials on January 22nd on proposals that may be contained in the legislation. The DLCG responded with its concerns on Tuesday, January 27th.
"While the DLCG acknowledges that Government officials have stated at the meeting that they will consider these concerns and revert back to them, there are significant gaps yet to fill between the proposals for rights-based legislation from the DLCG, presented to Government in February 2003, and what was proposed the other day."