Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To conclude, I want to pay particular tribute to our team. They put this together not just over the last six or seven weeks since we started on this but they also worked tirelessly over the weekend, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to bring this meeting together today.

We are starting another module with public bodies like Bord Bia and the ESB in relation to the implementation of the UNCRPD. I have listened intently all day. I always sum it up with two words, "cultural" and "attitude". One thing has happened over the last week that has shown me that the culture and the attitude is still embedded in society. You all made an effort to be here today to listen to our members who are an excellent group of people and I am delighted to chair their meetings. We had hoped that this meeting would take place in the Seanad Chamber but a motorised lift malfunctioned there.

Because of that, we could not have citizens of the Irish Republic who are members of the disabled community within the Chamber as we had organised it. I just wonder if that lift would have been fixed if it was Joe Biden who was coming. I think that is crucially important.

When we were speaking privately between the various sessions all day, some of the members told me they are deeply horrified that some of this evidence is being given in April 2024 and that we are still battling to give equal rights to a fifth of the population of this country. No matter how hard we work as a committee, we have to keep hammering home the message. The message is on the primary medical cert. There is not a Member of both Houses who has not tabled an Adjournment debate, a Topical Issue matter or a Commencement matter in either of the Houses on it. We are still banging on about it.

It is vitally important right now that we continue to strive as hard as possible for that one fifth of our population. Whether it is a physical or individual disability, it is a disability that is keeping them from having a fulfilled life. It is about 80 or 90 years since Maslow wrote his theory about the hierarchy of needs, and 80 or 90 years later, we would surely want to have a better society for people. We will continue to advocate for the witnesses, and I would appreciate it if they would keep in contact with us because we are only as strong as the evidence we hear.

Again, I thank one and all, and I also thank everybody who has been associated with organising this event. It has been a very beneficial day, and we hope we can make some change for all of us. The committee is adjourned until Wednesday.