Ms Amy Hassett:

Deputy Clarke asked about our engagement with the development of the new strategy for gender-based violence. We made a submission to the research team when it was holding consultations. In addition, we held a consultation with intellectually disabled women, in collaboration with another disabled people's organisation, DPO, the National Platform of Self Advocates. We were supported by Inclusion Ireland in doing that. We submitted the results of our consultation to the research term. We were not initially contacted directly or approached by those who were working on the strategy. We were quite disappointed by this given that, to my knowledge, we are the only national DPO representing disabled gender minorities. We highlighted that lack of consultation to the research team at the time.

An important point relates to how the parameters of the research were defined in that they did not cover some of the unique types of violence experienced by disabled women, including, for example, violence perpetrated by a caregiver. We had to argue for those points even to be considered. The team was a little more open after these initial conversations but it was something of a difficult road to get there. The reason I am being explicit about this relates to Deputy Hourigan's point. Disabled people live rich and diverse lives and this has always been the case. We may not always have been recognised as living rich and diverse lives but we have always done so. The question we really have to ask ourselves collectively, given this has always been the case, is why our policies do not reflect that reality.

Fundamentally, what it comes down to is that disabled people and DPOs are not involved in designing policies. We are consulted but whether our views are taken on board is an entirely different question. The reason the strategy did not necessarily include within its parameters issues relating to disabled women is that disabled people were not involved in the designing of those parameters. When we think about how to create policies that will suit disabled people and will be specifically flexible to encompass disability and all the different sorts of marginalisations people can experience, we need to think holistically. We need to start involving those people in designing the policies, the research and the systems we use to address the problems and reflect the kind of diverse and rich lives disables people lead. We have the experience, knowledge and expertise and we are happy to provide it if we are given appropriate supports to do so.