Ms Jacqui Browne:

It is a pleasure to be here. I thank the Chairman, Deputies and Senators for the opportunity to have an input at this sitting of the committee. I am chairperson of the Disabled Persons Organisations Coalition, or DPO Coalition. We are one of the member organisations of the Disability Participation and Consultation Network, and I present this statement on behalf of the entire DPCN. This is a very young group and I will tell the committee a little more about it. We see the development of the DPCN as a very important milestone for the disability community and we welcome the Government's commitment towards its establishment. The overall purpose of the DPCN is to ensure that disabled people and their representative organisations will be heard directly by the Government in making decisions on disability policy and law. There are four grant-funded members of the DPCN: AsIAm; the coalition of the six national organisations of disabled people, of which I am chair, and which is known as the DPO Coalition; the Disability Federation of Ireland; and Mental Health Reform. As the committee can see, the membership is a very broad church. The membership of the DPCN is also and very importantly includes more than 100 non-funded members, individuals and disability organisations. Representatives from the four grant-funded members, along with Inclusion Ireland, as the network organiser, are involved in establishing the network.

Our immediate task has been the network's response to the State's draft report under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. That consultation process closed very recently, on 9 April. The DCPN organised six consultations, which included anyone and everyone from around the country. In these Covid times everything was online and more than 190 people participated across all six of those consultation sessions. This presented a very good opportunity for the DCPN to connect with the wider membership. Following the consultations, a response to the State's draft report was formally submitted on 9 April.

It has been a very challenging start for the network. It is new; it was established in December 2020. In reality we only began meeting in January, with the timeline of 9 April to be met for submission. The five organisations have been working together for the first time, consulting at the same time with more than 100 members on the State's report. All this has happened within a very short timeframe. Our next priority is to explore how we can formally establish the network and to focus on governance, organisational structures and planning. However, given the substantial increase in the network's membership, with many members being volunteer-led, additional resources are essential to ensure that our participation is genuine, active and meaningful and that the direct voice of disabled people is prioritised at all times.