Annie Hoey (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will not go over what everyone has said about the importance of the work we are doing on this committee. I know Marie Fleming and her work have been mentioned a number of times. We would also be remiss not to acknowledge Vicky Phelan, who wished to see this introduced, and who unfortunately is not here today. She entrusted it to others to follow her will on what she would like to see done in that particular area. I would like the witnesses to tease out one area for me and people who might be listening in. Both submissions mentioned Marie Fleming, the impact of that case and what she wanted to see done. Obviously, the follow-on was that the courts said that legislators could deal with this. There was also talk in the protective measures around the exclusion of disability as a ground for eligibility. I would like that teased out. Marie Fleming's case was that her multiple sclerosis was becoming unlivable for her because of the difficulties she was having. For people listening in, can the witnesses tease out how something like that would work if we were to exclude disability? It is a remarkable case, and has almost led us to where we are now. How would the witnesses envision legislators like us being able to draft up or do something that would include someone like Marie Fleming or someone in her situation? If we were to include this as a ground, how would we work those two things out? That is my only question.