Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo all of the comments made so far by members. I welcome Professor Quinn to the meeting, congratulate him on his appointment and thank him for all of the information he has provided, especially his legal memo, which was very informative.

We all want the same kind of information. I had questions on the terms of reference and other issues that have been raised already, so I will try to focus on something a little bit different. People want to see action. Legislation has not been enacted but was just left on the shelf. I am concerned about the optional protocol. I accept that we have set up the committee and we are leading the way in Europe in that regard but, at the same time, we are the only member state that has not ratified the optional protocol. My question concerns how Professor Quinn feels the situation is developing at the moment. I know we have to report at the end of the year. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has committed to looking at ratification in January. Is that realistic, given that legislation has not been enacted? Professor Quinn has already stated that we have to expose the irregularities or discrepancies in legislation but at the same time to push for them to be enacted first before the ratification can take place.

In his submission, the professor mentioned about how the retrogressive steps should not ever intrude on the inner core of a right. In our reaction to Covid, the shutdown of day services was a violation of the human rights of people with disabilities. That is how it felt to them every single day. Until the ratification takes place, is there anything Professor Quinn could suggest we can do to ensure that does not happen again?