Dr. Mary Keogh:

Senator McGreehan raised the point very eloquently around the lack of co-ordination that sometimes can happen. From a Government perspective, we know it is not the easiest thing to co-ordinate services across a whole range of Departments. Ms Naughton spoke about the need for a whole-of-government approach to disability inclusion. The Government makes an effort around that, as all governments do. It is the vision of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, that states would really look at how that type of cross-departmental working can happen. In the case of international development aid and humanitarian assistance, which operates mainly through the Department of Foreign Affairs, it is really important to have that conversation. A lot of the issues are mirrored at the domestic level as well. Sometimes we think of these issues as operating in silos, which is easy to do because it is the way things do operate a lot of the time. The whole cross-functionality aspect is really important in terms of taking a disability-inclusive approach.

We are making progress but it is slow. Inclusion does not happen overnight but there should not be excuses made for a lack of progress. It is about trying to figure out the strategic ways to move forward in these areas. Learning and sharing knowledge are important. I work in the international development sector and there is so much experience there, including in terms of crisis response and influencing and working in partnership with governments. We in this country can learn from our colleagues in the international development sector and vice versa. That collaboration is already happening through platforms such as the Dóchas platform and the international development platform, which work with the peak bodies on these issues. Progress is slow but it is happening and we learn from each event. The Covid crisis was huge, it is continuing and it will have ongoing effects for many years.

That was a roundabout way of answering the Senator's point. She mentioned some of the great humanitarian organisations we have in this country. Independent Living Movement Ireland is really pushing for a strong disability rights perspective, which must be at the heart of any type of co-ordination we do. Part of that is responding to the ableist attitude that often arises from a rights perspective.