Ms Renee Dempsey-Clifford:

I will address some of the questions Deputy Murnane O'Connor has posed. The representatives from the NDA will probably have views on some of the other queries.

The DSG is appointed by way of an open invitation for expressions of interest. The invitation that went out about two years ago for the current DSG elicited almost 80 responses from the community of disabled people. The request for expressions of interest did specifically refer to individuals, DPOs and stakeholders in the broadest sense, but it did identify DPOs as well. From those approximately 80 people, a series of criteria was used to make a selection. I did not and do not get involved in the selection process at all. My independence as chair is enshrined in keeping away from the day-to-day matters of that endeavour. The process by which the 23 people who are on the DSG now were selected was based on a series of criteria, including their experience, their backgrounds and whether they showed best-in-class qualifications, if I may use that term.