Mr. Donal O'Shea:

Much of what I have heard goes back to misalignment. That is misalignment of policy and leadership culture. I will give some examples. The well-being statements are going out over four years nationally. What are we doing? The guardianship pack has been going on since autumn of 2021. I have contributed to both. Why are we looking at them and waiting for them? I will give some examples from the other side, in a personal capacity. I have contributed to the reform of the criminal justice strategy. Six weeks later, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, announced radical reforms to family law. More locally, the county development plan has the need for new area policy to facilitate the activation of social inclusion. To give a bigger example, a year after a submission on government formation to reinforce the civil rights and disability sector, I made representations to the European Commission and the European Parliament and was successful. Their words will impact on millions of lives in Europe and abroad.

The dialogue on the future of Europe is another I was asked to contribute to. Shortly after, I got a county award. I was representing thousands of citizens. Kantar did fantastic work. That is where it stopped. Europe did the work but we never led. In this House alone, I have heard questions about the local community development committees, LCDCs, strategic policy committees, SPCs and even the PPNs, themselves. How is this even happening? In a personal capacity, I got a global award for social impact at the UNESCO headquarters last month. I got similar accolades at national level through the Irish Centre for Diversity and indeed at county level.

Could I ask Senators to look at the Oireachtas hearings on disability on 8 April? It could be very informative for their work.