Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I find myself in the humbling position of having to try to respond to the issues the witnesses have all raised. I say this in a very genuine way with a view to responding to their bravery and courage in sharing how their lives have been impacted. They have dealt with very adversarial situations in their lives and how their lives have been altered in terms of everything from employment to family life. It is important that we listen and try to understand.

I do not have any of those issues but, following a bad car accident, I could not walk for a year and had to move back to my parents' house. My mother had to wash me. It took me a year to walk again. I had numerous surgeries. Three times per week, my mum or dad or one of my brothers had to drive me to the hospital, which was 25 miles away, for different medical examinations and physiotherapy. I had three or four stays in hospital. I understand to a small degree what it is like to live your life dependent on other people, not being able to drive, needing to have somebody bring you some place and prepare everything for you. After approximately ten months I was able to manage on a pair of crutches but then there was the whole experience of your arms being needed for the crutches all of the time and only one foot being able to touch the ground. On a very small level, this has brought back some of that from my end.

I thank all of the witnesses - Mr. Young, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Digan, Ms O'Keeffe, Mr. Fitzsimons, Mr. Kent, Mr. Mac Aogáin, Ms Forde, Mr. Morris, Ms Lawless and Mr. Harris. They gave us a really good picture of how we need to improve equality of access and of the lack of human dignity in public services at the moment. I congratulate Mr. Young on his Irish citizenship. We are pleased to have him. He made a strong case for the importance of parents advocating for their children. I will not say that a young person facing adversity in life who is in a family that can advocate for them has won the lotto, but it is a big thing. Unfortunately, there are families that cannot advocate for their children, for different reasons, and those children are left so far behind. It is difficult enough for people who have a warm and supportive family that can do all of that for them.

Mr. Young is right. It is shameful that we are the only country in the EU that will provide only one prosthesis. That is wrong and it is something the committee needs to reflect on in making its recommendations. I am speaking on behalf of all members of the committee and I know every one of us will absolutely be pushing that as hard as we can. Mr. Kelly and Ms O'Keeffe also touched on the need for amputees to have prosthetics that allow them to play a full part in all of their lives, in community and society and in sporting clubs. I congratulate Mr. Kelly, who has represented Ireland no fewer than six times as a player on the amputee football team. It is wrong that he is competing against people from other countries who have the full support of the health systems in their countries to have different limbs for playing sport. It is wrong that the HSE and the Government do not collect figures about amputees. We need to have proper data when we are trying to provide services for those who need them. Looking for a register also has to be one of our recommendations.

The school situation was also touched on. Mr. Kelly talked about his difficulties within the school system, when schools do not have wheelchairs or crutches when you are in trouble with your limb. That is also wrong, and there is intersectionality there with education. I am also a member of the education committee and will raise the matter at that level. We need to have those supports available.

The need for a simplification of the red tape around prosthetics is very clear from what all of our guests have said. It takes so long to get through the system and that is wrong. It needs to be addressed and we will do our best to do something about it.

Jamie spoke about the primary medical certificate and the importance of the scheme. Indeed, a number of our guests spoke about it. It was cringe-making to hear how difficult it is for those who need to get a primary medical certificate to avail of tax relief in order to be able to go about their daily lives, in as much as they can anyway, without the adversity that they have. The certificate and the issue of prosthetics are the two main areas that I hope this committee concentrates on arising from this session.

Michael is right about adhering to the FREDA principles and trying to ensure that everybody who deals with people with disabilities has those values. Everyone within the HSE should be an ambassador for trying to build a better Ireland to ensure that there is equality and equity of access for all of those who need it and that people are treated with dignity. It is very difficult when people have to keep on asking and asking on their own behalf or on behalf of a family member. I have a younger brother with an intellectual disability so I have some understanding of that.

It is important in these sessions that we speak about invisible disability and Kathy, Anthony and Kerry brought that very much to the fore. They spoke about how much their lives have been compromised

by the disability they have because of Lyme disease. Obviously, there are also other diseases and conditions whereby a person looks very well and appears to be well capable of living a full life. It was very interesting to hear how much our guests' lives have changed and it is clear that we need to do far more. They were right to raise the Indecon cost of disability report. It is important that we keep raising that where we can because there is no doubt about that impact.

Finally, this is a very exciting week for Adam and his family. We wish him and his family, particularly his brother Simon, all the best. We have no doubt that Adam will be doing his best to bring his influence to bear in the context of all of these different issues. I thank him for sharing the Same Chance report with us and for talking about the barriers that exist. He mentioned reduced timetables and said that many children with autism are on such timetables, which really shocks me because legislation was brought through this House and through the education committee, of which I was Chair at the time, which bans reduced timetables. We had many different hearings, in which Adam was involved, to discuss the need to ensure that young people with additional and extra needs who are vulnerable would not have reduced timetables in school, except in absolutely exceptional circumstances, and in such circumstances, their parents would have to give permission. Adam is telling us that this is not happening, which is

very concerning. I will bring it back to the education committee.

I thank all of our guests for baring their souls. I wish Jane the very best with her diagnosis. She is extra brave and special for being here today.