Tom Clonan (Independent)

The witnesses are all very welcome. I thank them for coming here. I apologise; I am on the Committee on Disability Matters so I am over and back to the meeting. Ms Rickard-Clarke mentioned culture. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is reporting on the gaps in Ireland's implementation of the UNCRPD and that issue of culture comes up again and again. It was mentioned that we are outliers and that there is a lack of political will to put safeguarding on a legislative footing. All the witnesses have highlighted the delays in that respect. Is this a simple case of inherent paternalistic conservatism in Ireland or does it have to do with the business model that dominates care provision in Ireland? Do the witnesses have experience or evidence of a pushback from for-profit care providers against safeguarding measures because of all the attendant oversight and expense that would entail? Have they heard about that anecdotally? We saw from the "Prime Time Investigates" documentary that many of the problems relate to inadequate funding and staffing of facilities.

I will go through my four questions as quickly as I can. I have a question about research for Ms Donnelly. I know the witnesses as social workers and academics. We go to international conferences and hear about contributions to knowledge in the area of safeguarding. Is anyone doing research on the fact that we are outliers here? Is there any kind of comparative analysis being undertaken? Is anybody looking at Ireland and comparing us to what is happening in other jurisdictions?

The Law Reform Commission was mentioned and many of the questions the Cathaoirleach put were answered. The witnesses would support that legislation.

There was mention of some of the residential settings in other jurisdictions in the European Union that are highly participative in the community and where numbers are small.

Is there a safeguarding model or jurisdiction we could look to that is worth emulating? I would welcome any of the witnesses jumping in to answer the question.