Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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When Ms Carthy spoke about her experience on her trip to Brussels, and about the aeroplane and not being able to get a place in the cabin for a wheelchair, it reminded me that we always talk about buses and all sorts of transport but we never talk about aeroplanes and how difficult it is to manoeuvre in them and otherwise. We do not seem to take that into account. I thought the captain making such a remark was absolutely horrendous. It was really horrendous to say something like that.

On access to polling stations, I remember in the last general election I brought a woman who was in her 80s and on a Zimmer frame. She was so determined to get to vote. That showed me. I must have been there for three quarters of an hour as there was no help or access. A horrible boarded ramp was put up, which was insulting. The whole thing was really degrading for the woman but, by God, was she determined. Unfortunately, the woman is now dead but to see it happen was just an inspiration.

It reminded me of postal voting and how it is accessed and how obstacles are put in place. Even when a person is going to get the postal vote, they have to go through hoops. That needs to be made more simple and maybe we need to push for that. We also need to identify who the people we need to get at are because there are people who seem to be so far removed, not through any fault of their own, but through the system. They do not feel engaged in the system, so we need to find a mechanism. I do not know how we would do it.

There is the issue of voting on a Saturday and of personal assistants.

Where does one get a personal assistant on a Saturday? I just do not know. Maybe it needs to be highlighted that we need to hold votes on days that are suitable to people. If we are serious about talking about people with disabilities on a par with everyone else, that needs to be pushed to ensure that we have that. Mar gheall ar an gCoimisiún Toghcháin agus an ról nua neamhspleách atá aige, tá sé thar am go bhfuil sé ag tógáil an róil sin agus táim an-bhuíoch de go bhfuil sé ag tógáil an róil sin. It is important that we have an independent body like the Electoral Commission looking at this and trying to monitor what is going on to see if approaches are needed. We have to ensure there is a rights-based approach right across the board. That is important.

We get the electoral register. We have no indicator of who is what or otherwise. I am not suggesting that we should for one minute but it is a problem in identifying what the situation is with certain people. How does one go about that? I would like to hear more about how we explore those avenues. Do we go to the local authority? Do we go to the health boards? Are there different mechanisms to identify people who are being left out of the loop? I am not sure of how it would be done but I would like to hear ideas on that.

The EU is talking about renewing its commitment to ensuring equal participation by people with disabilities in EU elections. How much input do we have into that? I assume that, right across the board and across Europe, every group is putting in their piece regarding their population. I assume there is much pressure. I would love to hear how we apply pressure to ensure that people with disabilities are out front and are not being left behind.