Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentation. This important area has been neglected over the decades. Those of us who have travelled to Third World countries with Irish Aid have seen some examples of that neglect. I would like to raise two particular issues, the first of which is Irish Aid's approach to the treatment of intellectual disability in developing countries.

Globally, we must ensure that disabilities are included in sustainable development goals, SDGs, and so on. However, people in many of the countries in question think of physical disability more than intellectual disability. In Ireland, we have spent decades working on developing thinking in this regard, so it is not unique. It was the thinking in the western world 100 years ago or less.

While mental illness is an illness and not a disability, it is often included with disabilities in the countries to which I refer. Sometimes, the treatment of mental illness falls between the two stools of disability and physical illness because of a question of interpretation. People occasionally group intellectual disability and mental illness together but intellectual disability is a condition, not an illness. Will the witnesses address these points?

I have seen extreme neglect of disability in other countries. In India, for example, there are people with disabilities on the streets as a result of that country's caste system. Very distressingly, I have seen people with extreme disabilities begging on streets and trying to survive while being neglected by every system. That is how it appears, so perhaps the witnesses will clarify the position. India is not strictly a Third World county but that could be argued. This problem is present and the cultures of some countries have a bearing on the neglect of people with disabilities and mental illness. A short address on this issue would be appreciated.