Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If it is 13 for every 100 persons, consider what it must it be for 2,000 persons. In any large place of public assembly, we should see that reflected.

I will move on to another key point: playgrounds. The Democratic Programme of the First Dáil has been mentioned very eloquently. Within that is the first duty of the State to children. Surely it is the case that children must be able to play together and form connections. That first duty in the Democratic Programme must be reflected.

I could talk at length about buses and public procurement policy. It has been made clear and is acknowledged in the public procurement legislation I have brought forward that the public duty on equality and human rights must extend to contracts signed by the State with private providers. We cannot have a slippage of standards where a service is outsourced.

Finally, the Bill provides for personal advocates to support persons with a disability around access to services. Personal advocates are not simply giving support to an individual. As has often been the case, the challenge is to identify the gaps, flaws and shortfalls in our services. We are seeing an expansion of our services and of participation. It is a public good when individuals, generously in many instances, take a case to seek to access services; they do us all a service. In that regard, this is perhaps a small step to what we should be seeing: the optional protocol on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that would allow all individuals to take cases.

This is a positive, thoughtful, generous and reasonable Bill. The Minister is not opposing it at this stage, but I hope he will be able to fully embrace it and use it as a template for further legislation, as we seek to make the UN convention a practical reality.