Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been listening intently; I just cannot come down to the committee room because I have another meeting coming up shortly. A number of things have hit me very clearly. Public representation in the Dáil by people with disabilities is very poor. The committee is relying on witnesses like those present today to outline their experience. I believe we should have a disability quota, representing people both in the Seanad and Dáil. With how the Dáil Chamber is set up at the moment, it is very hard to accommodate people with disabilities, which we need to look into. Much of what the witnesses have said is not new to us. The committee needs to take on board some or all of the suggestions and see how many of them we can get to Government to get movement. The committee is trying to engage and to assist the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Department to try to find the funding to help get things sorted out. Much lip service is paid to disabilities. There are many things that are still not even being contemplated as being right. Ms Smith spoke about seeking an appointment in 2019 and not getting it until 2022, which is not on.

I will not pose any questions because it is important to give the witnesses time to explain things to us, which each of them has done so eloquently this morning. As a public representative, I am not proud to hear what they have been telling us. There is an onus on us as a committee. As politicians, if we are really serious about people with disabilities, we should not just treat them with platitudes, thank them and all this kind of thing. The only way to thank them is to give effect to some of the requests they have. That is the thanks we need to give them. We have a body of work to do on that.

The Chair and other committee members will work to try to support the Department to get more money from the Exchequer. There is also an issue with how that money is being spent. Much of what I hear relates to very simple things like education. I used to work in education. It is absolutely damning to think of someone not given every chance to reach their full potential.

It is something we need to address urgently. We have spoken about this and Mr. Delaney is right that every Government policy must be disability proofed in a meaningful way in order that we can look people with disability in the eye and say we are doing something for them and we have helped them and improved their lives.

It is important that the cost of living with a disability is recognised. This is the time to recognise it when we have additional money in the coffers to create the additional disability allowance to help people cope with the cost of living with a disability, irrespective of their circumstances. I applaud everyone who is working or in education who is trying to live as independently as possible. We need to ensure they all reach their goal.

A mother of a child with a disability, a cousin of mine, told me people should not be called disabled, and that it should be stated that people have different abilities. We have to give all people the chance to reach their full potential irrespective of their ability.