Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

In 2012, and I am not comparing myself to anyone in the room, I remember being in a wheelchair for three months due to surgery I had in National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh. I spent much of my childhood in Cappagh hospital with some injuries. What I can say, and what I know from having to use the services is that, as Mr. Kavanagh said, it is actually very expensive. It is very costly to be disabled in Ireland today. I do not know how much it is to rent a wheelchair in the country nowadays but it was €100 per week in 2012. In one month, a person is out one month's wages from renting a wheelchair. From a personal perspective, I have an awful lot of empathy for people who have to work really hard and then spend their money on basic needs.

Last week, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, presented to the committee on grants and money that is available for people. I do not think that is enough, however. We talk about people running for elections. I remember speaking in 2020 about the reform of the Seanad and how it should be representative of people who have disabilities. One Senator emailed me to let me know he had a disability. My point was that just as it is not good enough to have one member of the Traveller community in our Parliament, it is not good enough to have just one member of our Parliament who has a disability.

A man who is deaf ran on the same panel as me for the Seanad elections, namely, the Labour panel, although, unfortunately, he did not get in. He missed out on a few votes, similar enough to myself. It is very difficult. We should have a quota in our political systems at local and international level for people who are disabled. That is a crucial piece of work on which we should all be working together.

In this committee in general, people do not really understand the difference between DPOs and Disability Participation and Consultation Networks, DPCN. It is terrible when someone with dyslexia tries to read out those letters; it is a bit difficult. We need to be very clear on our understanding as a committee around what it means. What are the witnesses' takes on it? I know that DCPNs are different from DPOs and that much of the time, they overlap. Ms Browne touched on that. Could she give us a clearer understanding? I think our language is critical. I have so many questions but I will leave it there. Again, Ms Browne talked about the 37 meetings we have had and that we only had six around DPOs. How can we do better in engaging with DPOs?