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

I thank all the speakers, who offer diverse expert voices through advocacy, academia and direct lived experience. Each of them brings an expertise on the issues of institutionalisation. It is an important topic that we are discussing. Deinstitutionalisation has been on the political agenda for at least three successive Governments, following the HSE’s Time to Move On From Congregated Settings report from 2011 and, on the other hand, the fact we have a strong social and historical culture of institutionalisation.

Last week, we met with the Ombudsman, Peter Tyndall, who was discussing his Wasted Lives report. One of the most striking conclusions drawn in his report was that even young people in these nursing homes still did not have access to appropriate or satisfactory primary health and social care support. The fact that disabled people need additional supports is often used as a justification for their accommodation in institutional settings, usually at the cost of their rights, such as the right to privacy and family life. If their support needs are not being provided for, then it is a lose-lose situation in which their rights are being dismissed and are not being met.

My first question is to Ms Ann Marie Flanagan and I would like to come back in when she has responded because I have two further questions. How can we have more meaningful engagement with disabled people under Article 4 of the convention, which requires state parties to consult meaningfully with people who carry the voice of direct lived experience? As a committee, how do we engage less with service providers and more with DPOs? I am grateful that I have regular contact with the Clare Leader Forum, my local DPO, which flags rights-based issues and keeps me up to speed on the voice of direct lived experience that is so often missing from these discussions at national level. How do we rectify this and honour the ethos of "nothing about us without us”?

Second, and on a related note, Ms Flanagan might talk to us about the importance of disabled people leading the conversation on how the State can ensure it meets its full obligation under Article 19 and the rest of the convention, and the value, ethically, morally and socially, of a genuine inclusion of disabled people in decision-making processes.

As a lead activist in the cause for legislating for PAS and after the motion was passed unanimously in the Dáil, what has the feeling been like in the movement since there has been no progress or movement towards putting such services on a statutory footing?