Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have held out great hope for this legislation. I am with Senator McGreehan all the way in that I have viewed it as being quite empowering legislation. I can see how, in an institutional setting, it very much is empowering when it is worked with a lot of staff. Perhaps it is designed with that in mind.

I am very disappointed to hear the consultation implications. I find it horrifying. As someone who has given out about the lack of consultation on transport and changes to BusConnects for local communities in the middle of the pandemic, I think, my God, this comes down to individuals' autonomous choices in the way they live their lives on every single decision they make. I find spending six weeks over Christmas on a code of practice annoying, to say the least. I commit to pushing back on that. A review is laudable and I can see why it would make sense given that we do not want to delay this legislation because the optional protocol is dependent and the two are so coincident in the planning. At the same time, however, it would appear that we need to have that conversation. Perhaps my Government colleagues and I will band together and do a piece of work on that.

Last September, when Mr. McGrath appeared before the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, he stated "we are only allowed to participate in story-telling and not in decision-making." He then went on to describe how accessible information is. That session was discussing voting and participation in public life. That sentence about story-telling versus decision-making has very much stuck with me. This legislation was supposed to be about providing rights and supports to ensure that decision-making.

I am aware that Mr. Dunne wanted to come back in so I want to give him the floor to do that. Let us just come to Mr. McGrath first and hear what he says to that or whether there is anything on which he would like to elaborate or feel has been unsaid as yet, given that I am the final questioner. Is there anything he would like the committee specifically to address? How would he like us to address the lack of consultation? That question goes to Mr. Lowndes also.