Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

That is not a point of information. It is just a point of pomposity and an indication that the Minister of State thinks he is right about everything. It is not a point of information.

With this Disability Bill we have a Minister of State who clearly does not have the power, the will or the desire to change anything or to put something in place that would benefit people with disabilities. That was very obvious from the outset of this process. I do not know if Deputy Fahey felt this was a form of punishment for him but he clearly did not have the interest required to do the job properly.

Those who campaign on behalf of people with disabilities have enough to do without running to the courts at every turn. Yet the Minister of State has consistently said, every time he has risen to his feet, that their only aim in life is to put money into the pockets of barristers and solicitors. Mr. Justice Fergus Flood did not speak last night as a judge, he spoke as the chairman of the Commission on People with Disabilities. To even infer that it was in his self-interest that he proposed the inclusion of justiciable rights requires an apology from Deputy Fahey. It is outrageous that he should make such an assertion.

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