Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their time and contributions. It is almost daunting to be the last speaker because many of the questions have already been covered.

I am ambitious for this committee and it is great to have a January 2022 deadline. We have all been asking for a timeline. One big issue for me is implementation. It is transformative and is about attitude. It will cross every part of our society, economy and our community. From our engagement with Departments, I feel they box-tick this convention. They show up to the meetings and yet hand deliver back the responsibility to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. We all know that the implementation of this convention is for everybody, from the shopkeeper right up to the Taoiseach. Every Department needs to start disability proofing and coming up with a strategy to ensure disability is the default option in how they carry out their functions. For example, it could be the Department of Health making equipment and screening machines disability friendly. It could be the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine putting creative thought into a TAMS, targeted agriculture modernisation schemes, grant for accessible farmyards. I feel for all Departments that this is just a box-ticking exercise.

It is handed back then and too much pressure is given back to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, when this is everybody's responsibility. I would like people's opinions and thoughts on that.