Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with that. I call Senator Murphy. He is otherwise engaged. I will come back to him.

Members have touched on disability and Mr. Tyndall mentioned it in his opening statement. It is a bugbear of mine because I feel they have always been treated as second-class citizens. A lift or ramp on a bus or train or an adaptation of a bike for a beach has always been perceived as a luxury and not a necessity. I had a dog licence exemption Bill in the last sitting of the Dáil to remedy the current situation which differentiates between somebody blind with a guide dog and somebody with autism and an assistance dog. The latter has to pay for a licence. It was discriminatory. We will certainly visit that.

One issue that worries me relates to the additional supports given to carers to allow those people to remain in the community. It is pertinent because we are coming out of the world's worst pandemic. Mental health issues are going off the scale and we have a mental health centre, the Owenacurra centre in Midleton, which in all its years has never had a suicide and has never had a Covid case. It has 19 long-stay patients. It provided short respite and mental health day care services. Now, because of inefficiencies in a Department which did not maintain the buildings, it is being used as an excuse to close it. These are the most vulnerable people in it. How does Mr. Tyndall feel about carers keeping people in the community who were in the mental health system and are integrated into society? The threat of moving them and putting them into isolated settings will be detrimental. How would he feel and react if this was happening today? It actually is happening today.