Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister well in her new brief. It has been a privilege to sit here and listen to input from Deputies from across the Chamber this evening. I do not think that will come as a surprise to any us. We have learned enough in recent years to have a good understanding of the lived experience of people with disabilities in the main. What people with disabilities do not in fact need is Members pretending here that we are about to take action when we are not seeing ample action. People with disabilities have incredible agency and ability to talk, advocate, self-advocate and live self-determined lives, if only the systems of the State could facilitate that. That is why I am glad of the opportunity to contribute.

I was a social care worker in some wonderful organisations in counties Kildare and Dublin for many years. The last one was the Walkinstown Association for People with an Intellectual Disability, WALK, where I got a chance to share in some of those self-determined lives with people who were phenomenal. Whether it is children, young people or adults, the themes are resilience, fighting spirit and an ability to contest some of the social norms and practices they probably should not have to contest. They find themselves in situations where they or their families have to fight for some of those basic services and requirements.

The Minister, Deputy Foley, has inherited a monumental task. We sincerely wish her the best in achieving that because the state of play right now is unacceptable when it comes to the intersectionality of the issues facing people with disabilities. If there is a housing crisis, we can be sure that the housing crisis facing people with disabilities is even worse. If there is an education crisis, again that can be expected to manifest itself in a very challenging way for people with disabilities. We know that for every crisis we have in society, such as transport and employment, it has double the impact on people with disabilities. In electoral politics we have seen recently published research which shows that the challenges facing candidates with disabilities are even worse than for those without disabilities.

The Social Democrats put forward policy positions. We have all done so at different points, as has the programme for Government. The new strategy presents the opportunity to fulfil some of those issues but it goes back to my opening point. We do not speak on behalf of people with disabilities. It can start with a meaningful listening exercise to understand, hear from and empower people with disabilities to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. We want to ensure that in every facet of life they can live fulfilled and self-determined lives. I sincerely wish the Minister the best in that.

See this speech in context