Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I accept that what the Minister of State said is true in regard to the content of the Acts to which I have referred in the amendment. As has been said on a number of occasions, what we are trying to do here is to strengthen and give power to this legislation, which is ground-breaking and for which many people have fought for many years. This will be used like their Bible. They want the legislation to be as strong as possible, giving them a strong voice and support. While these other Acts exist to uphold people's rights, there is nothing wrong with including this strong statement in the legislation. As far as I am concerned, it will strengthen the legislation; it certainly will not diminish it. When reviewing the legislation in five or ten years' time, many measures can be omitted, which I hope will be taken for granted when the time comes. Today we are dealing in an environment which is still not broad-minded enough to accept many of the issues that face people with disabilities.

I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the matter and accept the amendment in the spirit in which it is intended, namely, to strengthen the legislation.