Ms Catherine Gallagher:

I thank Mr. Kenny and the committee for the invitation. In case it is necessary to say, like Mr. Kenny I am not physically on the premises and I am tuning in remotely.

I would like committee members to think about every milestone in their lives: starting primary school, secondary school, sitting the junior or leaving certificate, going to college, employment, or further training, moving out of the family home, and so on. Did they face significant barriers in getting information to hand to see through all of those milestones?

Every decision disabled people make can span across multiple Departments. Further to this, Departments and public bodies may attempt to redirect us around in circles. These queries can turn into fully fledged information-seeking expeditions. The burden of bureaucracy can be overwhelming, and we are no different from our non-disabled peers in that we have the same number of hours in the day. There are also issues in relation to physical access and the built environment, specifically Part M of the building regulations which my colleague Mr. James Cawley can address.

I have not had the privilege of always living with privacy, dignity and discretion. For every thing I turn my hand to, multiple Departments in several separate administrative offices need to be notified. One of the most recent examples of this was my debacle on being offered a scholarship to study to a PhD level in Dublin City University in early 2021. The modest stipend was a bone of contention regarding my disability allowance. I was going to lose everything. I instigated both a public and behind-the-scenes political communications campaign. While it is rather a long story of how Catherine’s Law came to be, the crux of what I want to highlight today was the lengths to which I had to go to establish the lay of the land. When I received the first letter - in written format by the way, on paper - from the Department stating I was to lose everything, I was not given a reason. I set about establishing the who, what, when, where, why and how of the matter. I received incorrect information on several occasions, including the leading statutory body that supports the provision of information.

I eventually managed to piece together a case and, to be fair, when I presented it, I came across little resistance. There were organisations and politicians who may not even have been aware it was an issue. It was described in the Dáil by one of the Government party leaders as a "mistake". It certainly was not, but everyone got a fast education.

The physical toll this pressure put on me, even before it went public, is indescribable. There was nothing private, nothing dignifying and nothing discrete about those couple of months.

When we think of coalition-building, we often think of it as being external to us, or forming governments. Internal and cross-coalition building is just as important in how we talk and work with each other. We need to acknowledge that there are Departments and State bodies that would benefit from an overhaul of the ways they provide information to target groups so that individuals can make informed decisions about their own lives. There are disabled people who have the expertise to aid with this. Consult us or, better yet, hire us.

As it happens, I am in the middle of preparing an application regarding my research. I am asked to outline, in detail, how I will disseminate my knowledge, what impact it will have, who and where it will be useful for, and how it will add to the state of the art, as it were. These are questions we also need to consider in light of accessible information and communication.