Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept the Deputy's point about normalisation and the approach should reflect that as much as possible. The Deputy referred to consent for other people and that will be dealt with in the definition of consent that I will bring in. Everybody who has looked at this, from the UN to the Law Reform Commission has said that there are particular protections that are necessary if a person has a disability and that is what we are attempting to achieve. It is not an attempt to stigmatise or to suggest that people are different. It recognises that there may be capacity issues and that we need to deal with those, both where there is a lack of ability to give consent and where the person, who we define as a relevant person, is in a very dependent situation and who could therefore be at risk of lack of ability. That is the intention and why it is done like this. In section 21 there is a greater burden on the defendant around their knowing of capacity issues. It is to deal with those situations. It is necessary in the legislation and it is protective of people with disability without wanting to separate out unnecessarily, which is the Deputy's concern.