Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise. I am at a meeting of the Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and in the Seanad this morning. It takes years off my life trying to be in several places at the same time.

I wish to come back to Ms McDonagh on exactly that point of our language and the language of policy. We sanitise the real, lived experience. That was expressed extraordinarily a few weeks ago at the committee in the context of the experience in congregated settings. What can we do better, or what can we can do, assuming we are doing anything, to remove that sanitisation? People can get reduced to statistics, to particular language that removes the humanity from their experience and allows for no sense of urgency. I think of the very first International Women's Day on which the Committee on Disability Matters sat. It was at the height of Covid and we all sat in the Dáil Chamber. We found it a harrowing experience listening to what was said. We have had another International Women's Day since, and here we are today. The things that were there two years ago probably have not changed particularly.

My first question is about language. What can we do as legislators? We have to operate within the language of law for Bills and so on, but what can be done otherwise? I am very struck by the NGOs. Sometimes we say we need additional NGOs, and I was struck by Nem Kearns's comment in that regard. The Government will say that something is to happen and there is real heart for it to happen, but the language creates an almost adversarial competition rather than a facilitation of growth and resourcing of support for growth in the establishment of voices.

A particular passion of mine concerns women with disabilities and fertility and family planning. We are addressing that yet again for the third year running but we may make progress. I am conscious that there are moves for IVF funding support by the end of this year and that individuals in the Oireachtas are writing Private Members' legislation on that. The Department of Health is looking at it. In regard to the AHR Bill, what do the witnesses want people like me to do to make sure there is proper consultation and inclusion of women with disabilities to allow them to grow their families and have full access to becoming parents?