Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Ombudsman's response is fairly in-depth. I think it will raise a few flags with the petitioners when they get the response to this. The fact that the reading of the Bill was put back for 12 months is actually slowing it down. The Government was more or less committed to trying to strengthen the delivery of services instead of reviewing the 2005 Act. I suspect that once the petitioner gets the response, we will nearly have to bring one of the Ministers in on this or else get it onto a committee due to the fact that it is reviewing or changing the Disability Act for it. My biggest fear is that with the optional protocol not being ratified, it could prevent it. I would be very interested to see what the petitioners will come back with after the response.