Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Of course what he said after his scripted speech will be welcomed. It was more significant than much of what was in the scripted part. It is on the record and that is appreciated. Obviously, the questions of when and how much will be of great interest to the platform. I thank the Minister of State for that.

My underlying concern - one I have raised previously - is about the credibility of our commitment to truly advancing participatory decision-making for people with physical and intellectual disabilities. I am sure the Minister of State will agree with me on this point. The dimension of people advocating for themselves is absolutely critical.

On paper, our commitments are always watertight. However, recent experience with Cuisle as well as this immediate crisis for the national platform suggests that there is still work to be done towards actively realising those commitments.

Representatives of the disability voluntary sector appeared before the health committee prior to the summer recess. Their testimony, almost to a person, was that the existing framework of support is tottering on a knife-edge of financial and institutional collapse. In fact, to use the words of the representative from Rehab when speaking about the broader disability sector, the house is falling down. I do not mean to be political but it is hard to avoid concurring with that assessment when we see what is happening. Anyway, I thank the Minister of State for his response. We obviously look forward to seeing the meat put on the bones of that response, so to speak.