Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join with others in commending and congratulating TG4 and our former colleague, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, who is one of the key people in TG4 making it the success it is.

What happened to the Israeli energy minister, in terms of her being left outside of the climate summit for a couple of hours, does not surprise me one bit. It is symptomatic of an attitude towards people with disabilities throughout the world. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only Member of this House with a declared disability. Two weeks ago, I was in a situation where I could not access material at a very important committee. The reason for that is, perhaps, that I do not shout loud enough or not make enough noise and I just work away with people. I could give countless examples in this House of situations in which I found myself in terms of not being able to access information to facilitate me to do my job. It is nobody's fault, but it is everybody's fault. A better effort needs to be made across the board, certainly within this House and within the Houses of the Oireachtas, but throughout society in general. It is great to promote climate justice. That is extremely important but so too are the basic issues of equality and being able to access a venue. To think that that happened at an event about which we all espouse, namely, climate justice and climate action, is appalling. It should never happen. We, and the institutions, always should be mindful of whether there is a person on a committee or within the Houses of the Oireachtas that might need some extra attention or accommodation in order that he or she can have the same level playing pitch as everybody else.

I would like to raise one other issue. Today, I heard that Doolin Coast Guard has been stood down. That is very regrettable. Doolin Coast Guard is one of the busiest Coast Guard units in this country, carrying out 60 to 70 recovery and rescue missions every year. I want answers as to why that happened. I want to know the reason it is being stood down.