Mr. John Dolan:

I will do my best. Members might remind me if I miss out on something. I will start with Deputy Cairns' questions because they are most easily remembered. On the optional protocol, there was a commitment to implement the CRPD in the 2011 programme for Government. It was not done in that one and it was re-ignited for the next programme for Government. There seemed to be a sense that the line that was always being put out was that Ireland is not ready to do this until we have all this other legislation lined up. I thought that was ridiculous in the sense that it is progressive implementation. It is about implementing the convention bit by bit, year by year and module by module. It starts on the basis that many things in one's state are not the way they should be in terms of legislation, funding, services, participation and so on. Am I being cynical in saying that they held that piece back? I cannot see any reason it cannot be done, particularly when a state says it is up for it. We were the last country in the EU to ratify the convention. We then moved very quickly and did something that was ground-breaking, namely, the establishment of this committee. Why do we spoil that by not signing up to the protocol and saying that we will do our damnedest to make sure that people have their day in court, if they need it? All other mechanisms have to be dealt with also in terms of that process.

On the Time to Move On from Congregated Settings report, as Ms Dempsey said at the start, it should be history by now; it should have been done. We are talking about approximately 2,900 people. The undertakers of Ireland will solve that problem if it is not taken by the scruff of the neck.

Ms Dempsey referred to 1,400 people. Those are people under the age of 65. While it was right to focus on people in congregated settings and the delivery of that policy, at the same time the State was putting young disabled people into nursing homes across the State, and that number has been increasing every year. There is a small commitment in this programme for Government to start moving people out of those nursing homes. It is down to political will and the confidence of the State to get on and do what needs to be done.

In response to Deputy Hourigan's questions, I totally agree with Ms Browne's points. People with disabilities are the front and centre, as I have said already. Anyone and everyone else comes in to support that, not to speak on behalf of that.

Otherwise, the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 is a joke.

On Deputy Hourigan's point, I mentioned four items of legislation in my opening remarks. There might be others, but those I mentioned are key. It would be great to get the relevant Oireachtas committees to consider them and to actually start pushing them. I will mention one more, namely, the Public Transport Regulation Act 2009. It gave the National Transport Authority, NTA, the right to require private operators providing public transport, for example, buses, to make the vehicles more accessible. It has never chosen to do that, even though it is in the legislation. Therefore, there are many issues across the system, including cultural issues, lethargy and all sorts of other things.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor asked some questions in respect of responsibilities transferring from the Department of Health to the new Department. Let us be clear about it. It concerns the transfer of the disability services programme. There is a whole range of services and supports that fall under the remit of the Department of Health and which should rightly remain under the remit of that Department. People may be in congregated settings, day programmes or residential supported living. They equally and strongly need access to a whole range of other health services, whether they are dental, neurological or whatever. I warn against thinking that responsibility has been transferred elsewhere. It is one of the responsibilities that will have to remain. I do not have a view. It is important that focus is placed on getting the move done right rather than just getting it done. However, it does need to happen sooner rather than later.

Going back to a point made by Deputy Murnane O'Connor on whether there is a model local authority in respect of housing, generally, Wicklow County Council was the first local authority in the State to set up a committee that is almost akin to this joint committee. That county council is the first local authority to start to look at disability in the round. That is something worth looking at. I hope I have not detained members for too long.