Mr. Robbie Sinnott:

Talking about Catherine's law, I am about to do a viva at the end of October or early November to get my doctorate, touch wood. It is a PhD in Irish, not in disability studies or anything like that. Access to the library, etc., has been a nightmare. I am talking about Trinity College Dublin, but it is not necessarily just a problem there. The system is not designed for visually-impaired people or to allow visually-impaired people to go very far. That is why we have the lowest take-up rates in third level education, and that has a knock-on impact on unemployment levels.

There are other anomalies with the blind pension. Assessments, means tests, are done but it is impossible to get an accessible copy of three months' worth of bank statements to send to the Department. How does that work? People who are totally blind are still regularly sent the means test questions in print. Those people might not even know that they have received the stuff. This is how Victorian and antiquated the thinking is in this regard. The system is badly broken. I think the idea is to get rid of the blind pension. The numbers seem to be dropping and it seems that only about 1,000 people are receiving it now, out of 55,000 people overall, as Ms Brolcháin Carmodysaid. It is possible to get the disability allowance at 16, whereas people can only get the blind pension at 18. I know what I would be doing if I was aged 16 and blind. I think it is being got rid of by stealth, but through means that are obvious for anybody on the payment.

Regarding the points made by Deputy Tully, it was clear from the response from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to the question from Deputy Wynne that the attitude was that there was so much to be done that it would happen some time down the line. The approach to the UNCRPD is like that of rabbits caught in headlights. Everything takes so long. DPOs are supposed to be central to the 2030 agenda. These are immediate requirements. We ratified the UNCRPD in March 2018. The Department has known about these actions for a long time. How long do we have to wait? Will we be still alive when DPOs are granted their proper role? It is incredible carry-on.