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

I thank the witnesses for their contributions. It has been interesting. This has been a big week in Ireland with the publication of the Indecon report, which is long overdue but is a comprehensive document of 200 pages looking at the nitty-gritty of the extra costs incurred by disabled people. Most of the speakers referred to the cost of disability and it is something the committee is extremely focused on. Creative solutions are welcome. That is why it was a pleasure to hear from Mr. Broadhead on the comparative analysis between what is happening there and what is happening here. I was interested to hear Australia is responding to the challenges posed by implementing the UNCRPD and about the whole-of-system response he referred to in mechanisms such as the NDIS.

I have questions for Ms O'Toole and Mr. Broadhead first. How difficult was it to get to a place where the Government was in a position to introduce the NDIS? What social, economic and political factors provided the impetus to introduce something so progressive? Was it the UNCRPD?

The NDIS is across impairment provision. My question concerns equality between disabilities. Based on the witnesses' experience and critical observation, is there any subgroup or people with a specific type of impairment who have struggled to access or benefit from the scheme to the same extent as others?

On the differentiation between the disability representative organisations and disabled people's organisations, distinguishing between the two of them in terms of consultation, funding, etc. has been an ongoing challenge in this State.

Decentralised funding comes up against a lot of resistance to the idea that an extra responsibility or burden would fall on the disabled person. Will the witnesses speak about how that was overcome in the Australian context?

I thank Ms Walsh and Dr. Walsh for their honest and open statement. It is glaring and stark to hear the differences they have experienced in terms of access to services and supports between Galway and Cork and between Ireland and Australia. Even more striking is detail of how much more support Zoë's peer in Australia received. It is disappointing to hear that is the case in Ireland. They mentioned precise access to support provision. That has been pretty non-existent since they relocated to Cork. I wanted to come back on that and ask how that has impacted them as a family, in terms of going forward, hope and all that kind of stuff that comes with dealing with despair on a daily basis.