Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I intend to speak as little as possible so that I can hear from our excellent contributors because it has been such a fascinating session. I am very mindful of what Councillor Cronnelly said about everybody having a unique and individual experience of disability. In looking at this in theory, we must also consider very specific experiences because everybody's journey is so specific. For example, a reasonable accommodation is different for each individual.

With that in mind, I want to go back to postal votes and voting in general. I know in the 2020 election there was a real question and the National Council for the Blind of Ireland was very critical of the attempt to bring Braille into the process because the information was delivered very late. To get very specific about it, the ballot did not make any sense. People were given a number and they had to check to what number corresponded with a candidate. Why could somebody not just write the name of the candidate on the ballot paper? It is something for which we have facilities.

I am also very concerned about the comments about still having to prove a disability every year. It is something we see in other areas and I am very aware of it. Is there something the committee could suggest right now to lead to people being recognised as having chronic and unchanging disabilities? Perhaps we could suggest to the Minister that the matter could be eliminated from the process.

I would like to hear from some of the speakers who have had a very specific experience. Ms Costello's description of a ramp not working is useful. If people require Irish Sign Language but want to access a public participation network, it can be difficult to get that access every day. Do Ms Costello or any of the other speakers wish to comment on that?

There is also the question of quotas. The Civil Service, including Departments, had a quota for employment of 3%, for example, and I know this has been increased to 6%. If we are using that model, the quota in the UK is 10% and we should be looking at the same number. This committee should consider the use of quotas in political and public life in more detail. These are the types of numbers we should be looking at.