Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Last night, the Minister for disability, Deputy O'Gorman, said that Ireland is "falling down in terms of our response to disabled people". For one, Ireland is not falling down. It is the Government. Then, the Minister suggested that a specific referendum on disability rights might be required to prevent this in the future. At this point, I am not sure if the Government is aware of this, but it should not need a referendum to force it to provide rights and services to people with disabilities. It could just do it. Just so we are all clear on this, last night, the Minister conceded that the Government is failing disabled people and suggested it would continue to unless there was a referendum, which it has no plans to hold.

Disability services in this country are a disgrace. They are threadbare and they are ruining people's lives. The Government does not need a referendum to change that.

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