Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for their engagement. We really appreciate it. As some of the members said, this is only the start. We will be engaging with the witnesses throughout. We are only setting the terms of reference of our committee. One point that came across clearly today that must be reflected concerns the gaps in legislation and the challenges. A number of witnesses mentioned a number of pieces of legislation and we must reflect that in our terms of reference. It concerns the legislation that must be enacted and how it is to be enacted. We will reflect very carefully on it. Everyone who contributed to the committee really thinks that we can do something here and advance the cause of people with disabilities across the spectrum. We intend to do that. Regardless of whether or not we fail at it, we will try to do that.

Tidy Towns has been a national movement for decades. I think we should look at a national inclusion competition involving towns, not just for the sake of the competition but to promote awareness that there are challenges and we need to reflect and make our communities better, be they large urban or small rural communities. There is scope there and it is something we should look at. The witnesses have given us food for thought and we thank them sincerely. We are very sorry we have the two-hour slot because we could go on for hours but we must make the most of it. I thank the members of the committee for being so engaging and we look forward to working with them.