John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for not being here earlier but I was tied up in the Seanad. My sole interest in the Oireachtas is in the area of people with disabilities and their inclusion. Mr. Treacy has just mentioned the Paralympics and cerebral palsy. In fact, we recently had a witness in this committee who spoke about transport, Mr. Padraic Moran, who is actually an Irish boccia Paralympian. He spoke about the issues he faced when dealing with public transport, and we are not going to deal with that issue today. However, there is a connection in terms of social inclusion.

My first question is for Mr. Treacy regarding his work. Paralympics Ireland has been mentioned. Different organisations are involved in the disability area, including the Irish Wheelchair Association, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and others. I cannot list them all off, but I refer to the importance of making sure that people with a range of disabilities can participate. Moving out from that tight focus to a more general aspect, it is also important to make the witnesses' own sports and disciplines accessible, open and welcoming in two ways. The first is for people with disabilities and disabling conditions to participate and use the facilities as sportsmen and women, and the second is to come along and enjoy the sports.

Pulling back even further, in the context of social inclusion in general, we are public representatives talking about public money. There is never more around than there are entities looking for it. I refer to the extent to which all of the work of the witnesses is focused on and helping improvements for people in poorer socio-economic circumstances. This is not easy I suspect. Sports equipment costs money. I refer to a little fellow dying to play something and he has a skill for it but mammy does not have the money. Some communities are able to have good physical infrastructure but others, sadly, do not. There are three issues there.

Ireland was at the first Paralympic Games held in Rome in 1960. "Paralympic", as many people know, comes from "parallel Olympics", and refers to running the Olympics for people with disabilities in parallel with and using the same facilities as the regular Olympics. One man, Oliver Murphy, who is still alive and lives in Drogheda, was a member of that team. That Paralympics had a huge influence on the setting up of the Irish Wheelchair Association later that year. There are all sorts of connections between people, including esprit de corps,confidence and people getting on. It was mentioned that when contestants go out to the Olympics now, they know each other across the different disciplines. The same is so important for people with disabilities.