Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleague, I will not be speaking on the budget today but I want to welcome the disability budget that was announced today. I especially welcome the single biggest increase in personal assistants hours, totalling 3 million. This is a very welcome announcement.

On another note, I propose that this House has a series of debates where each Department could show how it is going to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The UNCRPD needs to be implemented. We will be ratifying and implementing that protocol, hopefully next year. Departments have a role to play in that implementation and I would like to see their strategies. They would be very welcome to the House.