Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry that I will have to leave. I have another meeting to attend. I thank all the witnesses. A witness referred to the Electoral Reform Bill. Do the witnesses think it goes far enough for equality of participation both when voting and when running for office? I see it at elections when people come to me. A man who was visually impaired came to me during the last election. There was hassle when trying to sort things out for him. We need to make sure that we have the opportunity for people who want to run but feel that there are barriers. Is enough being done about that?

Also, I was very impressed by Mr. Sinnott when he spoke about not having social media. It is important that we look at funding with regard to social media because that seems to be the way forward now. Social media will have a major part to play for all of us to move forward, so we must look at that.

Ms Browne spoke about disability awareness and a meaningful roll-out. I am a firm believer in awareness and, like everything in life, it is unless one is affected by it or a family member is. It is important that people with a disability have a say and that needs to be part of an awareness campaign so there is proper awareness of people who it affects. I said previously in one of our meetings that for years Carlow had a beautiful train station, but there was no lift. The lift was installed a few months ago, but it was unacceptable that a wheelchair user would have to cross the train track to get across to the other side. Again, these are issues we cannot keep fighting for all the time. We must make sure that there is an awareness and we must put funding into it. I am a firm believer in funding an awareness campaign on where we are falling down.

Other speakers spoke about access. That has to be addressed. We also probably have to look at other countries and how they are doing it because I believe we are behind. That is another area again. We spoke about meaningful consultation with people with disabilities and their DPOs. There must be a standard definition and framework. If there is no framework in place or essential register of all public bodies to consult with, that needs to happen urgently to ensure a structure through consultation with regard to policies that affect people. It is all about policies and we must make sure that we deliver them. We also must implement them.

The other issue is funding. For me, the core issue today is funding. I will not keep the witnesses long. I again thank them. It is important that we listen and make the change, because we must.