Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

"Lived experience" is one of the phrases we constantly used when I was Chair of the disability committee. Many people may have various theories on how policy should be developed but it is only when we walk in the shoes of the people affected that we understand the challenges they face. Over the past couple of months, I placed a particular emphasis on meeting as many people as possible.

I have met as many parents as possible at their own kitchen tables, sat down with them and listened to them. Throughout my political life going back many years, I have had huge engagement with the disability sector. We have worked with them and parents right through from domiciliary care to different issues on it. There is a sense of that as well when we go to schools and hear at first hand the challenges that are being faced at the school gate. However, we are constantly seeking to listen to the families and the communities. The education advocacy forum was started in 2021 to ensure that we would have a cross-section of interested groups bringing policy together but it is only by proper engagement with the people with the lived experience that we can shape policy properly going into the future.