Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad you are saying it because this needs to go into the public domain. We all know families. I have worked with volunteers and my kids volunteered for schools during the summer, volunteering with kids and bringing them up to the zoo in Dublin and stuff. It is important to see how people interact and learn about what other families are going through. When it is a disability or mental health, you are not even a second-class or third-class citizen in the eyes of the State, which is disgraceful and disrespectful. When you ask for help, these things should be based on your needs, not on what you have in your pocket or means.

I am delighted the witnesses have told their stories and spoken honestly about them. I hope somebody outside the committee will pick it up and drive it. We can only do so much from inside but this committee has teeth and will not let this go.