Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The delegation is very welcome to Ireland. I was in Romania three years ago and had a fantastic time. People are extremely friendly and it is an amazing country. I have a question for Ms Calista, who touched on the issue of disability. I presume Romania has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Amazingly, Ireland has not ratified it. This is astonishing as over 200 countries across the world have done so. I presume Romania is one of them. What is the average rate of social welfare in Romania for a single person and for a family? I know it is all relative to the standard of living there and so forth.

I remember when the revolution took place in Romania in 1989. It has come on a lot since then and has seen a lot of dramatic societal changes, as has Ireland. We share a lot of issues. The revolution in December 1989 always stuck with me. It may be out of the witnesses' remit, but post-Ceauescu, how have the new generations managed to deal with the general issues of contemporary Romania?