Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It will be a matter of pride for the Minister of State to have the UN convention ratified. It is a wonderful accolade for a politician. I pay tribute to Senators Mark Daly and Conway and also to Senator Dolan, my colleague in the Civil Engagement Group. They will not rest till the option protocol is in place but, more importantly, until the necessary resources are provided to make ratification and the rights involved real. This has come home to me because the youngest member of my extended clan, a 15 month old grand-nephew, was diagnosed at eight months as having significant challenges. He is a wonderful smiling boy but his parents have been pulling, dragging and fighting to get a chair that allows him to live. As someone said to me, it is hard enough for them to face this challenge they did not expect but the chair should be delivered with a bow instead of their having to fight for it. Coming from the disability sector, I know that fight is ahead of them. This seems to characterise how we approach disability in this country. It is always a big bare-knuckle fight. I would like to think we could get beyond that.

I am glad to hear about the work on the proposals for the replacement scheme for the mobility allowance, which we talked about at the Joint Committee on Public Petitions. That is long overdue and involved more pulling, dragging and fighting. It should not have to be that way. Until such time as we have not just the good intention and the rights on paper but the resources that back them up and make them real, we will not be able to go beyond offering a cup of tea and a biscuit.

The report Time to Move on from Congregated Settings was published in 2011. I was with the Cope Foundation at the time and there were many people in congregated settings. It is shocking that we are pushing that deadline out to 2023. Those institutions were due to be closed this year. There are 1,200 people younger than 65 years living in nursing homes. They are being detained. We have to do better than this. It is great that we have ratified but we need the resources to make that ratification real.