Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome each of the contributors and thank them for attending. I wish a happy International Women's Day, or international women's week, to the witnesses, my colleagues and everybody listening. This meeting in itself is hugely important as a means of recognising the importance of a gender perspective on disability and understanding how the real inequalities for disabled women affect their daily life. There is a specific piece of work to be done in this regard and actions certainly are long overdue. It is great to get a real insight and perspective from the witnesses on these matters.

I find it deeply worrying and concerning that women with disabilities in Ireland are more likely to experience violence, as we have talked about here today, and that a significant proportion of gender-based services in Ireland are not accessible to disabled women. I find it hard to believe in this day and age that such services are not disability-proofed. More important is the question of how we address that issue. Many of these services are struggling from year to year on the funding they get. I wonder whether it is specifically and only about funding. It is not an excuse but, in reality, if that is the issue, then we need to demand that services are funded sufficiently to ensure they are disability-proofed. Do any of the witnesses have knowledge of what service providers are saying in that respect? Is the funding aspect the largest barrier or is there something else in tandem such as training elements that are missing and required for staff? That is my first question.

The lack of access to transport is something on which I would like to focus. In my constituency of Clare, many people with disabilities who live in rural areas have relied on a service that was provided by Clare Accessible Transport whereby the disabled person could telephone to request to be picked up at a specific location. Unfortunately, the service was lost last year as the Covid crisis hit. I am seeking further information from the Minister for Transport on the matter and as to whether accessibility clauses should be included in tendering processes. The important point I want to make is that sometimes when services are in place and working well, they are, unfortunately, cut or replaced. That is not good enough. Do the witnesses consider that these issues are occurring because people, particularly women, are an afterthought in the bigger plans for transport? Do they think the Minister needs to be more hands-on in this regard or is it an issue with tendering processes and making sure that accessibility clauses are included?

I thank the witnesses for their contributions regarding the institutionalisation of women. A number of people in Clare aged under 65 are in nursing homes. The witnesses have responded on the broader issue but is there something that can be done about those people who are in nursing homes at the present time to facilitate their move into a more residential setting or whatever option they would choose for themselves?

As we are under a time constraint, I will conclude by asking the opinion of the witnesses on the State's initial draft report on the implementation of the UNCRPD and how it can be improved to ensure account is taken of the rights of women with disabilities. I finish by noting the words of Maya Angelou: "[W]e may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated."