Tom Shehan (Fine Gael)

Every day, colleagues raise the issue of human rights but, strangely, this seems to be more on an international rather than a national basis. For example, the situation in Palestine is raised regularly by colleagues in the House.

I wish to raise a specific issue. We have gone through ten years of a Celtic tiger period where there was an abundance of funds in the country. The one issue I am very disappointed about is the implementation of the Barcelona declaration, which was intended to make life easier for people with disabilities. While the funding was made available, I believe it was badly spent. In a time of massive wealth within the country, it was an issue that was not grasped and dealt with. It was a missed opportunity for people with disabilities that the Barcelona declaration was not taken on board by the authorities, including local authorities. What is Dr. Manning's view on this question?