Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for coming. I know there are significant challenges for people attending today, as we have heard from many of the witnesses. I know that at gatherings like this, disabled citizens are often the only people in the room who are not in receipt of supports, allowances or assistance to attend. I really appreciate, therefore, the fact they are here. I am only sorry we are not meeting in the Seanad Chamber.

Listening to the contributions, a couple of recurrent themes jumped out at me. The principal one, from everybody who has spoken, relates to rights. As a community, if we are to address all the issues that have been raised, we have to have a fundamental and radical shift towards a human rights-based approach to vindicate the inalienable human rights of disabled citizens. I wrote down some of the words people used, such as the grace-and-favour approach or being done a favour. People are exhausted from self-advocacy and the burnout associated with that. Last month, more than 1.2 million Irish people voted against a wording, in the care referendum, that would have denied us independent supports to live in the community and to participate fully in the artistic, cultural, economic and social life of this Republic. Over 1 million Irish people voted that down, in the strongest ever rejection of a referendum proposal in the history of the State. I hope the Government really listens to what the people have said, because it has also emerged the Government received advice that was designed to deny our community legal recourse to their socioeconomic rights. That is a mindset that has to change. We are all on the same page here in regard to the need for our rights to be fully vindicated, but some people in society who hold very influential positions need to amend their way of thinking.

Another recurring theme was that it cannot all just be sympathetic words, such as being told you are inspirational, brave or full of courage. That is not enough. There has to be action, and the people who can carry out those actions are the people who are in power. I take great encouragement from the fact the Minister, Deputy Harris, who is rumoured to be about to become Taoiseach tomorrow, has given an undertaking that he will ratify all the protocols this year, within the lifetime of the Government, and that is to be commended. It shows that key decision-makers and people in power are listening. The narrative is changing, but we need to keep up the pressure. I ask my colleagues attending this meeting, both those who are in government and those who will probably be in government soon - no pressure, Dessie - to support the disability rights legislation that is being drafted, some of which is on the books. I ask them please to support it and not to interfere with it or amend it to make it meaningless. I ask them to do the right thing, because it is the direction of travel and it is what we need to do to bring ourselves into line with everybody else in the European Union. Even in the poor, benighted UK, our lovely neighbours, under a Tory Government, the citizens of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland enjoy considerably more rights than we do as disabled citizens and carers. We just need to straighten up and fly right.

I thank Aprille, Gary, Ellen, Claire, Derek and Jean for their contributions, as well as everybody else who is here or was here earlier. The solutions to all the challenges that have been set out reside in rights-based legislation, and Ireland is an outlier in that regard. The people who can do it are the people in power, that is, the people who have the power to do the right thing with their votes and to vindicate our collective rights.

I want to conclude by quoting Gary. He is right. "Let's go, Government." Let us do the right thing.