Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions this evening. They identified the importance of achieving the SDGs and doing so in conjunction with the implementation of the UNCRPD. Those aims can be achieved in tandem. They identified that disabled people are vulnerable. Mr. McLoughlin stated, "disabled persons are not inherently vulnerable but can become vulnerable through social and environmental barriers". That is what we hear from disabled people all the time. It is not the disability that disables them but, rather, the environment they are trying to negotiate at all times. Obviously, that challenge is worsened in a crisis situation such as a war or natural disaster. I understand how difficult it is.

Article 11 of the UNCRPD deals with situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies. It was introduced after the tsunami in 2004, which led to the death of 230,000 people, many of them disabled people who were just left behind. During Covid-19, however, and the response to it, we saw disabled people being left behind. Disabled people were left behind when there was flooding in Germany in 2021 and they are being left behind in the context of the Ukraine war. Things have not changed. What can be done to improve the situation in order to prevent disabled people constantly being left behind? I dread to think what the people of Gaza, especially the vulnerable people there, are going through, as well as those in the many other places in the world where there is conflict. I appreciate the important work our guests do, but we have the UNCRPD because disabled people were left behind and not treated equally. That has been the case for decades and generations. It is an uphill battle to ensure they are treated equally. If disabled people had the same rights as everybody else, they would not have to overcome so many barriers, they would be part of society and they would not be forgotten about when a crisis or humanitarian situation arises.

We have representatives from two Departments and another organisation. Their work is all similar. Is there co-operation across Departments and organisations? The committee often hears from people who talk about silos, with different Departments addressing similar issues but not working in tandem. Do the witnesses' Departments or organisations work together? Is there co-operation across Departments on how to achieve goals?

An issue that has been raised with us a few times is international election monitoring and how important it is to ensure democracy is upheld, elections are fair and so on. The committee recommended that the election observation process in Ireland should increase the recruitment of observers with disabilities to a minimum of 15%. Has that been achieved?