Mr. John Sherwin:

The IDS is a DPO by virtue of the fact that it is led by deaf people. Ms Quigley mentioned our national council members. When we say that, they are not individuals; they are deaf clubs and deaf organisations that are set up organically be deaf people in regional areas around Ireland. I am taking a cue from Mr. Walsh here about the funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development. We approached the Department to ask how it could help us with our deaf communities around the country and see if we could meet, and we got no response from it. I will follow that up, and I thank Mr. Walsh very much for the reminder.

On the broader question about how DPOs work with other organisations, the problem is that historically, Government funded service providers have been leaned on for representative feedback about disabled people's experiences of the services they offer. That is a conflict of interest. They cannot give feedback on the services they offer. The service users must give feedback on the services they offer. There is still a slightly competitive environment out there between service providers and DPOs as DPOs come into the national consciousness. Service providers are asking how they become DPOs. It is the wrong question. They need to ask how they work with DPOs; how do they stop trying to represent the lived experience of disabled people and deaf people and elevate them to represent their own experience. This goes back to Senator Clonan's questions and remarks about parents trying to work with disabled people and DPOs. I can sense a little bit of frustration there from the Senator. The CRPD does not minimise the voices of parents or the voices of service providers. Yes, they have a mandate to represent; the problem is that they have often been the exclusive voices without disabled people there. That is something that needs to change.