Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank our distinguished guests for their submissions and their clarification of a lot of different areas. I am struck by why the optional protocol was deemed optional in the first place. It really should have been part of the whole agreement. There is so much confusion around it and also delay. I understand from what Dr. Lynch said that it may not be as long as we had originally thought which is good news.

In 2015, the Department of Justice published a roadmap for the legislative measures that were needed to meet the requirements of the UNCRPD. An updated roadmap would be beneficial in monitoring implementation. Has an updated review of this kind taken place?

Is there an indicative timeline for the publication of the implementation plan? This crosses all Departments and to have Departments working together is usually important. The witnesses might give an update on how the key Departments are working together.

Of course, we know from one of the UN committee members that many of the issues impacting people with disabilities fall under the responsibility of local government. While local government comes under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, I would like feedback on how the witnesses think the implementation can be strengthened across local government.

Mr. Harris spoke about inclusive education, and we had a recent engagement with the Spanish Senate commission. This is an area in which I am particularly interested and one we have spoken about quite a lot at the education committee in regard to ensuring inclusive education within communities, on which Senator Ivana Bacik has also spoken. I believe this is key to how we go forward. The Department of Education is one of the most important Departments in this regard and it is where we have to prioritise. Thankfully, we are doing better. In looking at the school building programme over the past year, we can certainly see an emphasis on inclusive and special education, which is important.

Given the impact of Covid in the past 16 months on people with disabilities, particularly those who attend schools and day care centres, it is clear we need to have contingency emergency plans for people with disability because they are so significantly and adversely impacted. I would like to hear the witnesses’ views on that.

There is another area of concern. In the mandate of the previous Dáil, three committees came together in regard to employment for people with disabilities, that is, the education, disability and health committees. EU figures show that Ireland is the country with the lowest employment rate for persons with disabilities and with the largest employment gap between persons with disabilities and persons without disabilities. That is concerning and we need to up our game in this regard.

My last question is the big question in regard to funding. A key measure in terms of translating this into law is ensuring adequate funding is allocated in the national budget for various sectors right across the board. I would be interested to hear if there is any feedback in regard to how we ensure adequate funding across all of the different sectors.