A service for people with disabilities which will assign them their own "personal advocate" to help them apply for social services and to pursue their rights in that area has been announced by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan.
Ms Coughlan today published the Cómhairle report entitled Developing an Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities, commissioned from Goodbody Economic Consultants.
Cómhairle is the national agency responsible for supporting the provision of information, advice and advocacy on social services. It supports the network of Citizens' Information Centres, the Citizens' Information Phone Service and the Oasis online information system.
The Minister said the report would provide vital information for Cómhairle in planning for the introduction and future development of an "appropriate advocacy service" for people with disabilities.
"The main function of the personal advocate will be to assist, support and represent the person with a disability in applying for and obtaining a social service and also in pursuing any right of review or appeal in connection with that service," Ms Coughlan said.
"I believe that the position of people with disabilities will be improved significantly through the introduction of the new personal advocacy service. This new service will provide for the assignment of a personal advocate to a person with a disability who is unable or who has difficulty in obtaining a social service without the assistance or support of the personal advocate."
"The context for this report is the Government's agenda to improving services for people with disabilities," the minister added.
She said she is preparing a new Cómhairle Bill to facilitate the introduction of the new service.