Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their contributions, which have been very interesting. As public representatives, we are constantly bombarded with these issues with regard to children being assessed and whether there are child psychologists available, which is a major problem. I know Ms Mannion spoke about recruitment which is coming through this summer but I wonder about this recruitment and if we are realistically going to reach those targets. To get the type of expertise, one needs the special educational needs organisers, SENOs, the psychologists and all of these people. Is the capacity out there? Are we going to be able to do it? I am just not sure that is going to be reachable. I hope it is and that this recruitment is realistic.

I recently had dealings with St. Michael’s House in regard to specialist units and I know it is planning to put another six units in place for people who have to or who need stay there for a period. How common is this across the country? Have we enough capacity in those situations because it appears in my area, which community healthcare organisation, CHO, 9 takes in, we certainly have problems in reaching targets. We are probably one of the worst off areas in having children assessed and so on.

I am curious to know if our witnesses have come across any problems where schools do not co-operate and do not want special classes. I do not know how to phrase this but on a number of occasions, I felt a negative response from schools. I would very much like to know how the Department deals with them because, as far as I am concerned, they are obliged to co-operate and they should be made co-operate and to put the special classes in place. That is a very big issue for me.

Ireland made several declarations and reservations about Articles 12, 14 and 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. How is this impacting on the implementation of the convention and what are these reservations? Are we able to address all of these reservations? I know that disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, have raised having their rights incorporated into Irish law. Can the Department's representatives give the committee an example of what these organisations mean when they say they are not getting a fair deal? Can our witnesses tell the committee what the issues are for the people who are affected by this?

I wonder about visually impaired people who are denied access to supports, such as a blind pension. If people cannot read certain letters on a chart or if they use contact lenses or other lenses, they do not have enough sight to drive a motorised vehicle as this is perceived as a visual impairment. Are we dealing with that issue? Is there a plan to expand on what is considered visual impairment?

Are there plans in that regard? I would love to hear about them if there are.

With regard to the Ombudsman, disabled persons organisations, DPOs, are saying the Ombudsman does not take Part 3 of the Disability Act seriously. What are their concerns? Why do they believe the Ombudsman is not treating them properly?