Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State.

I will not repeat what I stated previously about this issue but only say, "Well done." It has been a huge personal ambition as well as a political ambition for the Minister of State to get the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ratified. It is has been a difficult road. I have been here and at other meetings where people have been critical. The Minister of State has been consistent. He has been patient. He has built the foundations and the bricks to something important which is really positive. I accept it was slow and disappointing and there were many setbacks along the way but I want to acknowledge, first, Deputy Finian McGrath's work.

I want also to take a bit of time to thank a few people. I thank the disability advocates up and down this country who, time and time again, have waited outside the gates of Leinster House in the rain. They went all over this country. They campaigned with Senators, Deputies and county councillors. It is a great day for them.

I also acknowledge - Senator Swanick was right to say so - the work of Senator John Dolan and his background team, including Ms Doreen Magee, because the day I met Senator Dolan he spoke about this and the vision to get this done. Senator Dolan is a great advocate for the disability sector. Senator Dolan will be aware, from those he has dealt with, there have been many disappointments and setbacks but I think we can genuinely say we are now going forward, and I acknowledge that.

I acknowledge the work of Senator Mark Daly on his Irish Sign Language Act 2017 and what he did in terms of another strand of advocacy for the disability sector. I also acknowledge my colleague, Senator Martin Conway, for his work on the NCBI and his other work in terms of the visually impaired. Senator Conway has been a long-time advocate for the disability sector. He kindly received a large delegation I invited here some years ago from the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind who were greatly taken by the fact that a Senator should take the time to invite them in, show them the House, explain the processes, and give them a sense that they could be empowered and lobby politicians. They really appreciate that. I salute Martin and say that I, too, was an outsider coming in and I was very impressed. It is worth taking time out to thank people.

Finally, I thank a champion for the disability sector in Arklow, County Wicklow, Councillor Miriam Murphy, who has single-handedly advocated in the community and the local authority. She attends the local authority and experiences the great difficulties of being wheelchair bound, in terms of accessing her town of Arklow, her community and her council. As she herself would say, she has continuously been a thorn in the side of officials in terms of advocacy.

Councillor Murphy asked me to ask three questions and I will ask them for her today because I want to use my time for advocates rather than for what I think. What sanctions will there be if people do not comply? Can we be assured that every one of the 31 local authorities in this country will have a full designated disability access officer who will deal with the issues? I have heard of terrible stories where persons with disabilities have arrived to public toilets in local authority offices and been told the staff are sorry that the toilets are locked or there is no one available to facilitate them. This is unacceptable behaviour. Hopefully, we have moved past that situation.

Through his work as Minister of State with special responsibility for disabilities, will Deputy McGrath seek to have a designated, full time, funded and resourced disability officer in each of the 31 local authorities? I do not want this to be an appendix to some other position or some other person who does something three days a week and does disability advocacy on the other days of the week. That is a really important question that Councillor Miriam Murphy asked me to out to the Minister of State today. Social housing and special access housing is another issue. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government and this issue has exercised us. We must be proactive on it. The Minister of State mentioned empowering people, independence, dignity, autonomy and the right to decide one's future. Those are key words. However, I also know people who have lived in congregated settings and who enjoyed living in such settings. The difference is that they do not necessarily wish to live in an old, run-down, institutional building. People get comfort from living in community. A person who has a disability and who has lived in care for many years might wish to continue to live in care. That must also be an alternative choice. I have visited people from a place which ended the congregated setting in south County Dublin. The reports are not good. I have met people who have been put in isolation in flats and bedsits. They did not have the supports. We might say it is institutionalisation but some people get comfort from being with one another. That is not a bad thing. Some of us like to live alone but it is all about choice. We should not rule out the need for a modern new approach for village or community living for people with disabilities.

I wish to mention a final area. In the disability sector, people somehow fail to realise that people have rights of expression, sexual needs and rights to be authentic as people. These are important fundamental rights. They are areas that people in the disability sector have spoken about to me recently. They are personal and intimate conversations where they feel in some way that they are not allowed to express themselves and that they are not valued and supported in that way. They feel dehumanised. They feel that somehow they are not valued if they talk about their needs over and above accommodation, education, a job or training. This is about respect, allowing people to feel authentic, secure and supported and expanding their horizons. Many people never got that opportunity. I am talking about a group of people in their 60s and 70s. There is still a lot of living for people in those age groups.

I thank the Minister of State. I realise this has been a personal journey for him and his family. He has been absolutely committed. He has had to broker many of the frustrations and to build consensus, including within the Government which is not always easy. The challenge now will be to have the money and resources he requires to set out his vision. I ask the Minister of State to pass on my thanks to his staff and background team whom I have met on many occasions. They have always been available and have been with the Minister of State consistently on this journey. Well done to everybody.