Mr. Leo Kavanagh:

I thank the Senator for her questions. This committee has good intentions and I applaud its members. They are doing good work. We are not out to be adversarial here; we want to assist them. In respect of DPOs, the first step that is required is a register of DPOs, which has to be created immediately. Second, the disabled members on the DPOs, whom most DPOs comprise, must be consulted, first, last and always.

There is most certainly a need for funding of DPOs.

Most certainly, we are broke. We do not have a bob unfortunately.

I will speak about myself. Last year from the month of July until January of this year, I took a career break - first, to train to be a qualified trainer, that is, to be able to give disability awareness training courses and, second, to launch my DPO, Physical Impairment Ireland. Nobody put a gun to my head and said I had to do this free of charge. It was a decision I made myself. I was very lucky to be able to do so.

In regard to personal assistants, and I thank the Senator for that question, the nature of my physical disability is that it is degenerative. I do not know whether I will need a personal assistant in ten years' time but if I go to a meeting please God with my personal assistant, he or she will know when to speak and when not to speak because I will cut him or her with such a look, as I have done all my life. He or she will know when to speak on behalf of Leo, and when not to. Personal assistants do not just work for people with disabilities but from my experience, they work with them. They do great work.