Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the witnesses. I was thinking of the first time when I had to make a speech. I was at a conference. I was reading away and looked up and saw the flash of a camera. I looked down and all the writing disappeared off the page. At the same time, a bell was ringing to say I was finished my speech, but I was not finished my speech. Lo and behold, the writing on the page came back and I finished. That was my first speech at a conference. We are still nervous about these things.

The witnesses talked about putting things on the curriculum. The problem is that when teachers hear that we have a problem in society and it needs to be put on the curriculum, there is a collective groan, because everyone seems to think that if we put it on the curriculum, we can solve everything. Many of the things that the witnesses are talking about are people being excluded rather than included. That is what their campaign is about. People ask why you would get involved in politics. Many of us around this table probably got involved because we felt that people were being excluded or that there was something wrong with society, so that was why we got into it. We felt that the best way of actually changing things was getting involved.

When I was the witnesses' age I was not particularly interested in getting involved. The first time I was elected to Leinster House was back in 2002. The first time I was ever in the building was when I was coming in to sign the roll that says you are a Member. I did not know anyone who was involved in politics. None of my family are involved. A lot of people who are involved in this organisation have family members who were involved, like their mother or father. That in itself excludes a lot of people, especially young people from working-class backgrounds. When I was growing up there were not a huge number of people involved in politics in that sense, but they got involved through organisations. Thinking about Irish Sign Language, I remember debates in the Houses when we talking about recognising ISL and how important that would be for the deaf community, but again that was coming from the deaf community members themselves. It is people like the witnesses who are raising these issues and feel really strongly about them who are the ones who do it.

There is a lot wrong with Irish society. The witnesses gave the example of Irish Sign Language. I know of a child who was going to one of my local schools. The child was legally blind and needed a load of sensory equipment. There was a big campaign within the school and the equipment that was eventually secured. Then the SNA who was helping the child with the sensory equipment that made them feel included was going to be taken away, so there are a lot of silly mistakes made in society as well. Fair play to the witnesses for raising some of the issues. I appeal to them not to turn their backs on politics because it can change things. It is about involvement in youth clubs, environmental groups or whatever people are interested in. If they are interested in music, yjru could think about how more people could have access to that. I cannot play any musical instrument but the witnesses have the chance to do that. If their campaign is really to be successful it is important to include as many people as possible and not exclude people and I think that is the essence of it. Am I right or wrong about that?

I am sorry for going on. I did not put my question either. Would the witnesses like to respond to that? What do they think?