Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. That was such an informative discussion and very uplifting to hear some of the lived experiences. However, as these committee meetings often do, it also raises quite a lot of questions and very valid concerns on policy issues that we, as a committee, take very seriously, want to have influence on and want to help to change.

I will start with the comment from Ms Newman that summed up a lot of what is wrong with our system. A brain injury is for life. A bus pass and a medical card should also be for life. Ms Newman could not have put it any more simply and in any more practical terms than that. We need to see how we can modernise and update our systems so we are not putting people under annual or biannual pressure to complete forms, with the extra administration and extra hassle, in order to answer questions that are blatantly obvious to anybody who is looking at them.

I appreciate that much of the time, computers are doing the work and scanning the information in but someone looking at it can tell. We need to take some of that humane way in which a person would deal with an application and try to incorporate it into our technologies, processes and systems. In my view, that is absolutely critical.

It was really interesting to hear of Ms Lawless's experience. Many people receive diagnoses later in life and it can be difficult for people to come to terms with their diagnosis at that point. It is more important than anything, therefore, that we provide the assistance and support they need.

Ms Lawless clearly outlined some of the challenges in that regard, as did Mr. Gilvarry, who talked about the fantastic support he received from WALK to enable him to fulfil his full potential. One can see quite clearly how bright and articulate Gavin is and that he has a bright future ahead of him. It is critical to understand not just the benefits that organisations like WALK bring but also the challenges they help people overcome. It is great that organisations like WALK are there to overcome and break down those challenges but would it not be great if the system did not have them in the first place. I am interested in hearing, perhaps from Ms Kelly, about what we could do to enable that transition to be better. Perhaps she will also indicate whether individuals can transition to her service instead of a day service because that was not clear to me.

My next question is for Ms Lawless, who spoke about assistive technology. It is something we discuss week in, week out at this committee. We hear stories of how assistive technology is sometimes only available in one sector of employment, and that it is a little bit easier to obtain from a private sector perspective if a person is working in the private sector as opposed to the public sector. I was interested and even concerned to hear that Ms Lawless had to negotiate to get it into her university. I would love to learn a little more about that and what processes and policy changes she thinks we could introduce that could change that for other people in that situation.

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who spoke. I only have five minutes so I cannot pose a question to everybody. The three witnesses might perhaps respond to those questions. I thank everybody who came in today and shared their experience and expertise.