Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much, Acting Chairman, for your kind words. I am delighted to see so many in the Public Gallery for this important legislation, rightly named the Community Participation (Disability) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. The phrase "community participation" should have an equal rights element and so I commend Senator Dolan and the Civil Engagement group, and support what Senator Higgins said. For three years in Seanad Éireann, the function of this group has been to support the rights of all Irish people. I now have the great honour and responsibility of representing Ireland South in the European Parliament. I will do that within the framework of caring for and thinking about all people in Ireland South, in Ireland and in Europe, in particular people with disabilities. My daughter, Emer, is almost 28 years old and is missing part of a chromosome. She describes herself as a person with "special abilities", and that is how I see her. I have always fought for her rights and will continue to do so. I commend the Civil Engagement group, which, for three years, has fought for rights on behalf of all people in Ireland. Its members have done that with such goodwill; like those in the Public Gallery, they are advocates.

Unfortunately, I did not have the honour of signing this good legislation, because I was down in the count centre in Cork. I had to be here physically to sign it, and I could not be.