Mr. Damien Walsh:

At a local level, that is where a DPO will be effective. If you have a population where everybody has been individually asked what their needs are, then it is impossible for a local authority to respond to every single one of those, so people will get frustrated and annoyed. If disabled people are resourced collectively, they can ask what their main priorities are, and I will give an example. Along with Inclusion Ireland, we are funded for a project called From Consultation to Co-Creation and part of that is resourcing disabled persons' organisations in the north west. For example, through Sligo DPO cross-impairment space people all discussed their individual issues and frustrations but very quickly realised they cannot bring all that to one meeting with the HSE and need to be strategic. They very quickly identified a couple of pressure points that they wanted to see addressed. The collective space meant they could meet people in positions of power that could bring change. The issue raised was that some of the members who are vision impaired receive medical appointments in the post. The issue has been raised individually. Again, it is not that people do not want to do it but they had to find the right person who has the authority to change the system. Through the DPO engagement they were able to reach people and say that this is an issue for all of us and say that not everyone is vision impaired but some members were getting sensitive medical information and needed to go to their partners or family. They asked if it could be addressed.