Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to keep some time for answers, so a very quick, huge, big thank you to all of the witnesses for their contributions and submissions today. They have been so informative and helpful.

On the issue of surveys and guidelines and all these things over and over again, there is a real understandable frustration with these things when, like Dr. McDonagh has said, we do not need them to know how people with disabilities in Ireland are discriminated against, because it is very clear. As has been mentioned, there is not one single Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas who has disabilities. As has been said, all of these problems existed before Covid but this has really highlighted them. For resources to be going into things that we already know, oftentimes, as a society, we have made the mistake of telling people what is best for them without asking them. Those resources could be going into things that perhaps may result in them being better spent. As a committee, I hope we do not follow suit.

In every question we come back to the emphasis on and importance of ratifying the optional protocol. It seems to be the thing that we absolutely need to do, noting that we are one of six EU countries not to have done that. Are there barriers that any of the witnesses are aware of to ratification of that or is it a matter of keeping the pressure on the individual Departments? Any information on that would be fantastic.

In the submissions it was stressed that there was a need for direct participation by people with disabilities on this committee and other committees. That is fantastic. In today's interaction, it is not only ineffective but also exclusionary for many of the people who we hope to work with. Having previously worked in the disability sector, I know we need more proactive approaches to involve people meaningfully. Could anybody give us direction or suggest people we could talk to to adapt our methods to make them more effective? I would especially like a response from Dr. McDonagh, if that is okay, but also from everybody else.