Ms Lynn Fitzpatrick:

I acknowledge what has been said. I am the same as everyone here. The collective Irish psyche is damaged from years of institutional abuse. It is horrific. As I said at the beginning, my brother has never lived in an institution. It is very wrong that this is happening to his home and community and to the model of care that is so appropriate for some who do need care. Like it or not, they cannot feed themselves or do anything for themselves. This is the reality. There has also been desperate abuse. We all heard about the Grace case. When we first found out about the policy I asked what would those families do who for one reason or another could not keep their children at home when all of the congregated settings were closed. I asked where would those children go. The answer was into the foster system. If everybody is comfortable with that great but I am definitely not.

Abuse can happen anywhere. If people go to the St. Mary of the Angels website and look at the international page they can see the litany of failures in the group home community living model in the United States and Australia and what happened to people when they were moved out. I commend Ms Flanagan. She is an amazing advocate for the majority of people with disabilities. Sometimes I feel like this policy thinks people like my brother will go extinct. They will not. There is no proper advocacy in Ireland for people such as my brother. We are trying. I am not an activist. I am doing my best to fight for these people because nobody else who should be, and who is funded by the State to do so, appears to be doing so. I really hope the committee takes stock of what I have said. I plead with it to do so.

With regard to support, the people in St. Mary of the Angels are supported to enjoy the community. They are always out and about. A few months ago, my father and I presented to the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Rabbitte, and representatives of the HSE. I thought it was so funny afterwards when my mother told me that while my father and I were totally stressed trying to present at yet another meeting, Bernard was in Muckross House and Gardens having tea and cake. I am delighted he was. I am delighted Bernard does not know, and I hope to God he does not know, that this is going on, that people have decided he is not living in the right kind of community and has no business being there and that he would be better away from all of the essential services he has had for 40 years, as if that has actually cost lives. Professor McConkey said there is evidence that people do not live as long. I read in the HSE progress report on the time to move on policy that people in congregated settings live equally as long as their counterparts in the community.