Mr. Peter Kearns:

On the issue of plastic straws, we did lobby to keep the plastic straws. We were told comments such as, "We all have to do our bit". We were saying, "No, plastic straws are an access tool." At that point, which was a couple of years ago, there was not that dialogue with DPOs, because DPOs were not recognised as the voice of disabled people. A lot of people say to me, "Did you not try bamboo straws or metal straws?" Especially regarding metal straws, if anybody has basic physics, they will know that if you stick a metal straw into a latte, you are going to burn your lips. Actually, two years ago a woman in England was killed by a metal straw. She had a cup of coffee, she got burned, she had a spasm and the metal straw right went up through her palate and killed her. There are issues like that with metal straws. A spasm can knock out teeth as well. Plastic straws therefore have a proven record as an access tool.

Continued dialogue with DPOs is needed. Back in Sligo, we are getting great work done on shared spaces for people with regional impairments or who are blind. If they go across O'Connell Street in Sligo, they do not know where the path ends or starts. The Sligo DPO is speaking with the council to try to change that. We are really here to promote the idea of dialogue with disabled people. The DPO does a lot of work to build the confidence of disabled people to speak up. The disability sector, as Mr. Walshe says, is a business. They are quite keen to keep their businesses going. They do not speak for disabled people, whereas the local DPOs have that structure to achieve that dialogue about looking at the barriers etc., and listening to the lived experience of disabled people to come up with solutions as well.