Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I understand Mr. Kearns is originally from Leitrim. Again, I want to thank him for all the work. Certainly, counties Sligo and Leitrim were always ahead of the curve when it came to the independent living movement in Ireland. Indeed, I visited the Sligo Centre for Independent Living.. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte was there, and we met Maria Mulligan and Rosaleen Doonan and all there. It really is state of the art and they are ahead of the curve. I want to put that on record. All aspects of non-medical supports are offered and it is a wonderful place to call into. Mr. Kearns should be very proud of the work he has done there and I thank him.

I want to raise two or three issues. I will go back to the issue of reusable straws, which I think was articulated by Deputy Tully. There is an issue that 70% of the litter in the EU bloc were caused by plastic stirrers and straws. Plastic utensils were banned. However, it is an issue that is raising its head. I did not realise it. I have two young children and we have kid's smoothies etc. While I may have thrown away many smoothies because I could not get the paper straw into the small hole, I did not think outside of that. From a disability point of view, however, it is another issue we need to try to address. Maybe we could come up with a common-sense proposal, because there are silicone straws and so many things. These are not working. Everybody in the hospitality industry wants to reduce the quantity of straws. However, maybe there could be an alterative where they could have a few that could be used in situations such as the one concerning Mr. Kearns. It is something that resonated with me, so I thank Mr. Kearns. We are passionate about combatting the damages to the environment but, as Mr. Kearns has rightly said, banning plastic straws has had a negative impact on his life. I wonder if there is any mechanism we could put in place to address that. There may be something for my kids' smoothies as well. I am just being funny, but I hear Mr. Kearns.

The fact is that there is an urgent need to engage with disabled persons' organisations to ensure that public investment is fully inclusive. Mr. Kearns just said that sometimes he is frequently seen as an afterthought. I am disappointed to hear that because I would have thought there should be a lot more dialogue and consultation. He might go into that as well.

Finally, Mr. Kearns said part of the circular economy Act provides for disability rights groups to be formally consulted as part of a process on the new circular economy strategies. What is exactly is he referring to? He might elaborate a little more on that. How does the circular economy affect the independent living movement in Ireland?

Mr. Kearns spoke about shared public spaces. Politicians like ourselves do not have all the answers and we very much welcome Mr. Kearns' interventions and his views. I saw that there are cycling lobby groups. We have a cycling lobby group in Sligo and they certainly challenge things. Nearly always we need those kind of views. Again, I thank witnesses very much for coming before the committee today. Their views are very welcome, but we have to act on them.