Mr. David Lysaght:

I thank committee members for their compliments. Deputy Carey asked what practical things we can do every day. I will outline two. I was not always on DA. I first went onto jobseeker's allowance for a few years. That was fine in 2008 when the Government was investing in getting people off jobseeker's and into employment and was providing job recruitment services for people on jobseeker's, as members are aware. I went to the social welfare services and found them very helpful. I used computers to research and look for jobs. Then I decided to go on DA because it was a lot more structured and a sustainable payment for my disability. The moment I went onto DA I lost access to that recruitment service. The services providers said: "Sorry, you are not in our remit. We only look after people on jobseeker's." People on DA are the most vulnerable people in the country and need that little extra help finding a job, and then it is taken away from them. That is a practical thing that can be done: stop that and provide that service to people on DA.

Another practical thing that I quite often come up against is access to form writing. As part of my cerebral palsy I have a shake in my hand and, like many people with cerebral palsy, find it hard to write. Still, for many Department services one must fill in forms by hand. I cannot do that. I still have to go through the embarrassment of asking someone else to fill it out for me. We live in a world where we can control a robot on the other side of the world, yet we cannot put forms online. If they are online, I have no problem filling them in, but we still get paper ones, which is a barrier for me. They are two practical things that can be achieved.

Dr. Murphy said something that struck me about our Government's approach and society's approach and society seeing people on jobseeker's, DA or lone parent support as dependants. I can tell the committee from my own experience - and I guarantee members it is across the board - that this has a detrimental effect on the mental well-being of the person because no one, disabled, lone parent or able-bodied, likes to be seen as a dependant or a burden on someone. We quite often feel we have to justify why we are getting DA, why we are getting €220 a week. We are told by such people: "We are paying taxes and going to work." I would love to do that but I cannot. That was a mental burden on me - and it is not just me, it is across the board. Again, it is back to that word, "attitude". We need to change that.