Mr. Donal O'Shea:

Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a thabhairt leis na Seanadóirí as ucht an seans labhairt leo.

In addition to being the Laois representative on the national secretariat, I am representing colleagues on the national advisory group. I acknowledge the commitment of colleagues in each PPN, particularly the input of the national secretariat, which has worked on various developments over the years. Ten years after the reform of the local authority Act of 2014, there is a consensus that the aspiration to empower citizens is not being realised as it was meant to be. In this regard, recurring themes include concerns about the required authenticity and limited opportunities to influence policy; excessive central control, with far too many gatekeepers; and fragmentation of the national and local authorities. The critical need is for the establishment of an independent national structure for the PPNs. It is urgent at this stage and it would be in keeping with the findings of the Mazars report. In this respect, I have outlined the need for the findings of Crowe consultants, produced on behalf of the Department of Community and Rural Development, to be shared with the Cabinet prior to ministerial sign-off in June of this year. Given a very modest request for resources, this will facilitate much greater input from grassroots level and reinforce the principles of open government. Former colleagues say that open government is not working as it ought to but that there is considerable potential.

I started as a social inclusion representative. I have sent in a personal submission to outline the consequences for a person with a physical disability, a rheumatic condition, who must wait ten-odd years for the high-end medication Humira. I am now on this. It helps but there has been a trail of destruction at so many levels. At local level, the alignment of policy and activation of funding streams, particularly through the likes of LEADER and The Wheel, would help. I shared a link from another sufferer, Amanda Geard, who, according to the Irish Independent in September 2021, has referred to how soon the oncoming waves of pain became so strong that she was left immobilised.

The Oireachtas committee has asked PPNs to lead in terms of engagement with the local authorities in this area. In the last census, 1.1 million people declared they had one disability or more. Seventy percent of such disabilities are of a hidden nature. If we do not give a sense of direction, clarity and focus, it will be very hard. In the courts, there have been clear examples of violations related to public legal arrangements. I have contributed to the legal aid headquarters in my former home town, Cahersiveen. There was none there until fairly recently. It is absolutely shocking at so many levels. We need to be a lot more focused. We have asked for a sense of direction from the Government on how we can advance participative democracy among those of us on the national secretariat and move in conjunction with the representative democracy system.