Mr. Brian Miller:

If I may add, the family resource centres were a community resource to support families. We worked with them initially to make sure they included people with disabilities. This led to the development of the empowering parents programme because, and I am sure the committee members have heard it from other organisations, many parents of a child or adult with a disability often struggle through many years of trying to obtain, find out about and access programmes or supports. One of the things the members will hear from parents many times is that parents were afraid to ask a question, that they were afraid to question what service they were getting because they may might themselves excluded or left out. The empowering parents programme was a short one. During the Covid times, we delivered it through Zoom. It was to provide parents with a sense that their child is a citizen of the State and has rights similar to everybody else and that their right to engage in a full life in a community is the same right as somebody going to third level or Trinity College. The empowering parents programme came out of our initial contact with the family resource centres and has now become a powerful tool to give parents a sense of their rights. The UNCRPD reinforces that again and allows a change of attitude from parents accepting or pleading for services to saying their children have a right.