Mr. John Dolan:

Since being at the parliament in 2017, and at the European one this year, I have been thinking actively about that. I think there was some talk about some kind of assembly with the Seanad. I certainly think there is a letter to be written to the Ceann Comhairle on this subject. The Senator is right about the issues, but I take the view that if something is a good thing to do let us find a way to do it. The first Dáil sitting was in the Mansion House. It can be somewhere. At the European one a motion was put forward about the European elections and what were the key things for people. They were freedom of movement, issues like transport and voting and those kinds of things. It has a good effect, and it brings people together. The other point is that we are talking about people with a range of conditions and disabilities. If you do it, you will do it better the next time.

On the subject of changing places, the answer is, "Yes". A family or somebody from anywhere in Ireland cannot come up to our Houses of Parliament for a day, whether to do the tour, meet people, do business or whatever. We want more people with disabilities to be able to come into all of the different committees to give their evidence and talk about the issues. That they cannot have the comfort of knowing is simply not on. Over the years, I have known Members of both Houses who had disabilities. I am thinking in particular of two people who have passed on, and who would not ever have dreamed of outing their conditions. Some of that was because other people could take advantage. You are in a place where there is a lot of competition. There have always been people in these Houses with disabilities or serious conditions. When you look at the age profile of people in here, why would there not be? It would be odd if there were not. The work we are talking about doing here should, in a decade or two, make it easier for people to be appropriately open about their condition and be able to carry on with their work.