Mr. James Casey:

I thank Senator Carrigy and I really appreciate it. He spoke about Mr. James Cawley who has gone. Just to say about that young lad from Mayo, I am from Mayo and we are good at many things but we are not good at the all-Ireland unfortunately. The Senator is right about the board members. There needs to be someone from a disabled persons organisation, someone that knows what he or she is talking about. I know a fellow who did his degree in broadcasting so he knows what he is talking about instead of it being a tokenistic thing.

I also think the problem with the media, and the media is informed narratives, we think in terms of stories and in terms of narratives. We do not think in terms of facts and figures, you know the 60,000 or the 50,000. I always think about this and have used it before when I give lectures. My great aunt Katie used to smoke Woodbines and we all know smoking is really bad for us and that we will die young if we smoke. I remember her smoking Woodbines and throwing them into the fire and she was into her 90s. That is what I think about, that auntie Katie had such a hard life. It is the same with stories about disabilities and impairments. When a person sees the stories on the news it is like, we have made a new special playground in Cork and in Wicklow and the public think we get loads of money and they do not need to give us any more and what is wrong with us. We have a special school and a school for autism and all of this but that is not going to us it is going to somewhere else. The media informs the narrative which in turn informs public opinion which in turn informs politics and representation and things like that. I thank Senator Carrigy and we really appreciate that.