Ms Joanne Condon:

I will speak to the three areas. We would call for strengthening and sustaining independent advocacy services through adequate resourcing and strategy, and involving people with disabilities in policy and oversight of the new regime. In terms of any review of the Act that is undertaken, it needs to specifically look at adherence to the guiding principles of the Act.

With regard to the question of collaboration, while we are not part of the interdepartmental steering group, we are part of the HSE human rights office oversight implementation group, which feeds into the interdepartmental group. There is an opportunity within that for feedback from the advocacy sector.