Tom Clonan (Independent)

This legislation was introduced on 25 June.

Dr. Begley pointed out that, unfortunately, and I have had this experience myself with CHO managers in the different CHOs who are very idiosyncratic and capricious, some of them do not believe in PAs, just as people do not believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The reason they can say such things to applicants and people like us is that we do not have in legislation the socioeconomic rights that are in place in every other jurisdiction in the EU. We are 30 years behind Britain - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - and 50 years behind Germany.

I introduced legislation - the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023 - to provide those socioeconomic rights. The Bill will be considered on Report and Final Stages next week, on 26 November. It is unusual for an Opposition Bill to go through all Stages even though the Government opposes it, but I will bring it to its Final Stage next week. It seeks to remedy that defect. If enacted, it will give disabled citizens and carers the socioeconomic rights to move from a charity-based model to a fundamental human rights model. Does the Disability Federation of Ireland support that Bill?