Ms Renee Dempsey-Clifford:

If I may add, as both Dr. Hartney and Dr. Tamming have said, the shape of how the consultation goes is taking time but it might actually be valuable time, notwithstanding that we do not have an active strategy going. Getting the model of the consultation process sufficiently acceptable is important. Personally, I do not see everybody being totally pleased with any outcome but in the broad brush, meeting the objectives of the convention without exclusionary activity should be sufficient.

I mentioned earlier that the disability community accounts for 21% of the population now, and will probably be larger when the next census is published. That in itself is very large but it also means we are dealing with a very large group of people whose diverse views represent the natural diversity of individuals and communities. I am not afraid to criticise people but it is not an easy thing. I have been observing many of the meetings that have been going on and they go down into the dark hole of questions like "Are we the right people in the right place talking about the right thing right now?" It is one of those processes that is embryonic, as Dr. Hartney has said. We have not really matured to a great extent but on the positive side, every one of these meetings builds capacity within the DPOs. For a small group of people who have not previously been advocates or activists, just engaging in a meeting and seeing standard operating procedures, how one constructs one's arguments, how one gets allies for one's arguments and so on, in its own way is a beneficial outcome because capacity is being built.

In terms of reasonable accommodation, if there are people who need more time, perhaps because of a particular condition, to articulate a position, then instead of a speaker only talking for two minutes, it might be necessary to wait five minutes to hear their valuable contribution. They may just have slower processing or a slower methodology and that could include things like intellectual disability. If the broad church of what the convention is aiming for is as inclusive as it says, and if Ireland is trying to meet that, then there are readjustments, not only for the community of disabled people and their various groupings but also for groups like ourselves and this committee, to come forward with that accommodation and space and to allow people truly to be heard. It is a journey and we are in the very early stages. Those are my personal opinions.