Dr. Robert Sinnott:

It should be made clear that DPOs are not a lobby group or a vested interest in that way. It is a specific rights category. There is a gap for us as human rights defenders. That is a specific role and the State has obligations in law to us that it does not have to, for instance, Microsoft or any of the other big multinationals. It has specific obligations to us and that cannot be overlooked. It is not about us being heard or having a voice at the table. It is about us being prioritised in our views and opinions. That relates to paragraphs 13, 14, 23, 56 and so on of the seventh general comment. It is not good enough that we are just at the table.

When I earlier called the DPCN a dog's dinner, that was not a reflection on anybody in the DPCN. There are 117 ordinary members, and as for how that is supposed to be managed, I have no idea. It was set up in total contravention of the CRPD, even though it was supposed to have been done to implement Article 4.3 of the CRPD. The founders clearly had not read Article 4.3 or the seventh general comment when they were setting it up. This is the lack of thinking. The Department of Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth is not undertaking its awareness obligations. For example, it currently has two awareness campaigns on the go. Paragraph 76 of the seventh general comment states that Article 4.3 is of key importance to Article 8, yet the Department is only now, after I wrote to it in early May, getting around to consulting DPOs as an afterthought, possibly, on 8 or 9 June.

The Department said that it cannot do it any later because it is already too late. It has already had a number of focus groups, however. The Department does not have a clue what it is doing. How can the other 650 public bodies have a clue if the entity that is the focal point does not? The only way we can do this is outlined in general comment 7. The latter contains 10,000 words. Somebody who is in charge and somebody who is responsible should read it. That is where the guide is. General comment 7 states that there needs to be DPO-specific legislation and that that things must be disability-proofed by DPOs. That is the only way we will be able to get the likes of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to fulfil its obligations, let alone the other 650 organisations.

There are some outliers, and some brilliant ones. Dublin City Council is making some effort, for instance, with no help or guidance from the Department with responsibility for disability, etc. We have to fight. It is like firefighting. We should not be firefighting. There should be a top-down approach, but that is not happening. We need the committee to make sure it happens. We need legislation. In the meantime, we need the registration and we need a memo from the Department to all 650 groups to tell them that DPOs must be prioritised, not just represented at the table. They should systematically approach us, not the other way around.