David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)

Exactly. The Minister should try to broaden his vision and take off the blinkers where courts are concerned. He is fixated by and scared stiff of courts. Every time he stands up he talks about courts and the Judiciary, but if the Bill works there will be no need for courts. Likewise, there will be no need to bar people from courts because they will not seek recourse to them. The Minister is preventing people from using the courts as a last resort but if the Bill does what is should, the courts would never be used in this respect. However, the Minister knows this Bill is flawed and he is bolting the door, and nailing it shut, so that people will not be able to use the judicial system.

Courts are the last place that anyone wants to go, but people with disabilities are being forced there. We all know of numerous cases involving children with special needs whose parents go to court because the Government and the Department have dug in their heels and will not provide such services and supports until the courts instruct them that under the Constitution these children are entitled to them. That is the current position.

If the Minister thinks the Bill is the cat's miaow, as he keeps telling us, then he should not be afraid of the courts as there will be no need for them. People would not bother going to court if the Bill worked. In barring access to the courts, however, the Minister is saying the Bill is fatally flawed. He has inserted that provision because he is fixated about courts and scared witless of them. Up to now, court is the only place in which people could obtain their entitlements.

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