Mr. John Sherwin:

I want to respond to an earlier question, which was whether people with disabilities are really consulted. Whereas we are talking about some of the great initiatives and structures available in Ireland for community participation, from a DPO perspective making those structures available is not enough. DPOs are voluntary or unfunded for their national advocacy work. Staff are limited. Resources and training capacity are limited. One of the fundamental points we are trying to get across in our submission is that need to be resourced to take part in consultations. Until now, much consultation with disabled people has been under a welfare or a heavily medically influenced model. Under UNCRPD and public sector duty this attitude really needs to change towards an equality and rights based approach. That change in attitude changes everything. Much policy and many systems for consultation are reactive rather than proactive. We need local government and local authorities to proactively seek and resource DPO consultation, not merely making the opportunities available. We need to be actively supported. We need understanding about accessibility needs. We need to be resourced to develop the capacity and capability and leadership skills to provide that kind of input. Time also needs to be considered. It takes voluntary and underfunded DPOs longer to respond and, in some instances, assistance is needed to understand the complex topics that are being offered so we can contribute.

When we ask if people with disabilities are genuinely consulted, unfortunately the answer at the moment is "No". We are asked to respond to schemes that have been developed and that it seems are going to be put in place regardless of our input. When it comes to assessment, we are often excluded as well. A recent example from the Irish Deaf Society would include the engagements of the sign language interpreting service, SLIS, with the Citizens Information Board regarding important projects for the deaf community such as the voucher scheme and an ISL interpreting app. They go through pilots and we are not consulted properly on the development of the schemes. We are not involved in the assessment and now those schemes are shelved and SLIS has no funding confirmed for 2023 and could have to reduce its services in January. As a DPO, we have no information about the decision-making process or how these decisions are being made. There really is a lot of room for improvement. On a positive note, the State is gradually recognising the critical importance of DPOs. However, we also request that there will be a recognition that if they do not help us build resources to respond productively to the State and proactively get involved in developing schemes about involving DPOs, then we are not going to be able to provide the way we could.

That is what we are hoping to communicate through our submission which makes various recommendations we hope local government will see and engage with us on.