Mr. Damien Walshe:

I wish to amplify Mr. Kearns's message. We are currently at the point where it is almost a double-edged sword. We have massively raised the awareness among statutory bodies at a local and national level of the significance and role of DPOs under the UNCRPD. Without the adequate resourcing, however, we cannot respond to the multiple requests we are being asked to participate in at a local and national level. We recognise that a lot of statutory bodies want to engage with people who are disabled through their authentic disabled persons' organisations, but without the resourcing, it is almost impossible to respond. We are one of the few DPOs that have some funding. It is welcome that we can participate in spaces like that, but many organisations locally and nationally do not have that. We need to think about that long-term resourcing.

This goes back to the point made by Deputy Canney. The Deputy is absolutely right. We cannot have a situation where the State is investing money in systems and structures we here know are potentially putting people in danger, whether it is floating bus stops, shared spaces, or disabled parking bays that are in the line of traffic, and which we believe may result in legal action and which would cost the Exchequer more money to remove them. It would cost more money again to build the systems we as DPOs can tell members now will work. While we have section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act whereby each public body is supposed to develop its public sector duty to assess issues related to equality and human rights, put effective plans in place that will measure those, and report on them annually, there is not a real effective legislative stick. It is more a case of this ought to be done and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC will provide guidance. Ultimately, we are looking at people who are disabled needing to take casework, with the support of IHREC under one of its other powers, against local authorities that are in breach of equal status regulations and are in breach of commitments under the UNCRPD, or we could get to a system now where this committee could show real leadership whereby we move from awareness of it being an issue and see what the legislators can do. The policy needs to be brought up to a level. We do not want to see what is happening now in Dublin being replicated across the State so that, in five years' time, somehow it is the DPOs who are the bad guys when millions of euro will have been spent on infrastructure that does not work and which needs to be changed. Let us not invest in that now. We have limited resources as we try to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Let us put those systems and structures in place. Let us future proof.

As Mr. Kearns has pointed out, let us future proof how we invest in public transport. Dr. Mooney is right that we all have individual responsibility as citizens, nationally and internationally, to try to reduce our reliance on carbon. We as individuals cannot create inclusive public transport systems. That is the responsibility of the State. Deputy Kenny said that in a rural part of the country a person may not have the luxury of asking what bus he or she can get because they do not exist. If we are talking about investing in systems that will allow all of us to participate in society as equals, let us not have buses in east Galway that we have purchased, the NTA says that is okay and is fine, but constituents then say it does not work for them and where do they as disabled people fit into the system. There is a real commitment in saying that, although we have limited resources, let us not go just for the bare minimum but instead go for systems and structures that are actually future proofed and will meet the needs of people who are disabled, now and into the future.