Mr. James Cawley:

I again thank the Senator for the question. As I said, I am from a family of nine. I was always taught to fight for the spuds and get out there. I was told to go and do things and that I could not be treated differently. That has stood to me in terms of my resilience. My friends and family always slag me and say that if anything is wrong, James will write an email. It is good that we do that because we, as individuals, need to ask questions and challenge things when something is wrong so that we can change that wrong into a right.

The real magic for me was when coming through university I saw the power of collective action. That is where my activism moved from James Cawley being an activist into a collective. I joined lots of campaigns in university. I went on to be a teacher and empower young people, and saw how that can be done in a collective when we can educate people. I was fortunate to join ILMI as a staff member and connect with a movement of disabled people right across Ireland to see how we can move action from the individual to a collective. That is important.

There was a question about how the committee can help or progress this. A Dáil motion was passed in November 2019. We would love to progress and explore a Private Members' Bill that we have worked on with Deputy Thomas Pringle and bring a debate to the committee. I again thank the committee.

The personal question is great. It is amazing how things have transitioned for me from the personal to the collective. It is also amazing how collective action can start to break down barriers and change the medical model into a social and human rights model where we can all participate as equals. I again thank the committee.