Ms Joanne Condon:

I would like to draw the attention of the committee to a cohort of people. We can talk about making more housing, supports and healthcare available but it is important that we stop for a second and think about those who are most marginalised and who are currently in congregated settings. We have a particular remit to people who communicate in a different way and who live in some institutions where they will not get the support to access advocacy to enable them to exercise their rights or to even understand them in the first place, never mind being able to articulate what it is they need.

Therefore, besides talking about housing, healthcare and social care, which are all essential, if we do not offer the necessary supports such as advocacy and other types of support like that to people who have no natural supports and who are living in settings where many people are not going to offer them any level of support around realising their rights or accessing the type of life that Ms McDonagh and Mr. Alford have described, the question is how are we then going to connect one to the other. Waiting lists for advocacy is also a significant concern. We run the risk of those people being even more marginalised where their voices are lost. How will they be even recognised as people who have needs that should be met in these ways? They need somebody to do that for them.