Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a male participant in this committee along with the Chair, I am privileged to be in a position to listen to the witnesses this morning. The way that each one of the witnesses presented to us is truly what this committee is about. We have to listen but we also have to take on board what people say.

I have probably 100 questions. Therefore, I will not ask any questions but I will make some comments. First of all, within the Dáil we talk about legislation.

I believe that only one current Oireachtas Member is a person with a disability. That is something we need to change. How do we change it? This committee, with the organisations represented today, has to make sure we make disabilities a very political issue and we need to get people involved in it.

The fact I am a lone ranger sitting here this morning does not discomfort me in any way. To listen to what the witnesses have to say is very important. A number of issues that have arisen during Covid have highlighted the lack of services and the lack of engagement we have had, be it in regard to special needs education or the way primary medical certificates are dealt with at the moment, where assessments are non-existent, and there does not seem to be a way of getting these things done. I like the idea of having access officers within each organisation, and that they do the job they are supposed to be doing and it is not just tokenism, which I sometimes feel these kinds of things can be.

There is a huge body of issues that we have to sort out and we should tackle them one at a time. When my students were doing a big project in class, I would ask them how we eat an elephant, and the answer was that we take it one bite at a time. Today is the one bite at a time that we are all here for. I reassure the witnesses that this committee, since it was set up, has been very much involved in doing things rather than talking about things. There are a lot of things that we need to change, with the help of the organisations here today, and maybe they will lead us in that change. That is what I am offering. As women but also as people who are living with disabilities, their experience is more important than any report I would get from anybody else. What I have heard this morning is just the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to engaging with the witnesses again, whether at the committee or aside from the committee, and I may contact them. Given all the questions that were asked, we could do with a full week to get the answers. We need to make sure that we gain as much information as possible from the witnesses on the issues they have.

I have encountered the issue of means testing and disability supports when people are trying to get a job or trying to improve themselves in my constituency in Galway. People have contacted me when they have an opportunity because, if they go for it, they will lose their disability allowance or something to this effect, which is shambolic given what we are trying to do.

The witnesses are all very brave people but they should never feel they are alone. There is a great committee here to help them. We have attitudes to change and we have to do that with education. We have to make sure that every policy is disability-proofed in every Department. It will take time to do that but a change of attitude is the start of it. I have no questions. I wish all of the witnesses well this week, international women's week. It is important that it is not just about this week and then putting that back up on the shelf again. We have taken it down and we need to make sure we fix it before we put it back up again.