Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ms Coates is right that if you do not ask the question then the answer will always be "No", and if you do not challenge the system then you most definitely will not get what you want. It is a shame that in 2023 we are talking about equal access and asking for services to enable people to live an independent life, if possible.

Yesterday, I gave a talk in the Seanad about how International Women's Day should be celebrated. We need to celebrate the event but, most importantly, we need to look at what we need to do for disabled women and women of colour, so the others in society. I made the following point yesterday but I think that it is so important that I will repeat it here again. Through my activism I have always learned that you go into rooms and you ask yourself the question of who is not here. Even in our Parliament people with disabilities are excluded from decision-making and from being in the room just like the Traveller community and black people. Our political system does not represent the rich diversity that exists within Irish society.

On domestic violence services, there are supports but they are not fit for purpose. Do disabled women have equal access to refuges or a safe space whether it is for a week, a fortnight or whatever? Do the witnesses believe that disabled women have equal access to refuges? I am a member of the Traveller community and work as part of the National Traveller Women's Forum Ireland at which we have always spoken about equal access and how we are at a disadvantage because of poverty or coming from a very marginalised community.

In terms of disabled women advocating for themselves and participating in organisations, what is the most urgent need in terms of capacity and relationship building? We need consultation but before that we need to have people in these spaces instead of having talking shops and having people talking about us without us, which we see also applies to disabled women.

As people rightly said earlier, some disabled people are not just disabled but are women too. A lot of the time disabled women are just viewed as disabled rather than being seen as a woman with a disability or a person who is disabled. Irish society has a long way to go before we improve rights for disabled people in general but we need to start here. As the witnesses said, they were before the committee two weeks ago with Inclusion Ireland and spoke about funding. What has happened since?

What we can do as a cross-party committee? The committee and its members are passionate about the rights of disabled people and people with disabilities. Until I joined this committee I did not understand what disabled meant. I recall Nem Kearns saying to me, and I feel privileged to work with her, that the person is not disabled and it is society that disables the person. I will never forget that remark and it changed how I view people with disabilities and I believe people's rights should be met. It is 2023 and I want to know from DWI and the witnesses who are advocates in their own right what can we do as a committee.