Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have short enough speaking time but I welcome that the Minister of State has mentioned there has been some progress on graduates in the special section of the Department of the Taoiseach. There are also quite a number of areas, however, that require urgent re-examination. Reference is made to 60% of people with disability working. If one looks, however, at people who are termed disabled to a great extent, it is only 27.3%. That is an area which needs to be focused upon.

We need to look at the issue of housing for persons with disabilities, given that disabled individuals make up 25% of homeless people, which is hugely disproportionate. We need better accessible transport, affordable childcare, improved education, improved employment and adequate personal assistant services.

The Minister of State mentioned that this Government is putting the disabilities issue front and centre of Government. If that were the case, then some of the Taoiseach's nominees would have been people at the forefront of the disabilities sector. I mention people like Joan Carthy, for example and Ann Marie Flanagan, both of whom have tremendous expertise in this area. It would have been a good idea if the Government had appointed both of them as Taoiseach's nominees to the Seanad. They would have addressed the gender balance deficit but they are also experts in their own right in the field of disability. I hope that somehow, through whatever sector, their contribution can be encouraged and recognised.

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