Ms Derval McDonagh:

We are definitely in support of the optional protocol being ratified. A lot of our members are very much in support of that. However, as Deputy Buckley said, it must also be viewed in the bigger context of fundamentally developing services and supports for people. What we do not want is a whole other complaints mechanism, with people staying caught in such a loop unable to get the services and supports they need. We should ratify the optional protocol. Other states have done so and it is the right thing to do. There is no doubt that people need the mechanism. Sometimes the nation does need to be held to account publicly and globally, but we must focus our efforts on building better supports for people.

In response to Deputy Buckley's point about value for money and how systems work together, Ms Locke-Reilly painted a very nice picture of when integrated care works. In Inclusion Ireland, we look at the child and the family being at the centre of everything. I know that is an overused term but everything should stem from that. If a child accesses a children's disability network team, for example, he or she must have a key worker or advocate to help him or her navigate the system and bring together all the services and support he or she needs, be it mental health services, CAMHS or services in education. Whatever the child and family needs, it should be integrated and together. That is where we get value for money and better and safer quality services because the child and the family are in the middle of it. Unfortunately, that does not seem to happen. A lot is based on diagnosis and to many families, the lived reality is that they are shipped from pillar to post. They are told it is not a certain person's responsibility because they have a certain label and when they go to another place they could be told the responsibility does not lie there either because that place does not have enough of another label. Nobody integrates everything.