Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters. This is an extremely important committee, which was set up originally on the basis that it was for a special purpose. I have heard a suggestion that the committee might not be reinstated during this Dáil and Seanad term. I ask that this committee be reinstated as a matter of urgency and priority, and that it be established on a continuous and permanent basis.

The committee was chaired by Deputy Michael Moynihan, who is now a Minister of State. It was a very effective committee at vindicating the rights of disabled citizens. It also provides us with a unique opportunity to hear from disabled persons' organisations, not just service providers. That is a commitment that we are fully signed up to now that we have fully ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

I ask the Ceannaire and the Cathaoirleach in particular to impress this need upon the people who have the gift of that decision or discretion at their parliamentary party meetings this evening, if that is when they meet. We must ensure that the disability matters committee is reinstated because there is a little bit of fragmentation of responsibility. This is not a reflection on the individuals - the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Foley, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill.We have to make sure we have a committee that can tie all of that together and really move forward on the fundamental human rights of disabled citizens. We have heard it from my colleagues across the floor. Ireland, unfortunately, is one of the worst countries in the European Union in which to have a disability. We can do better than that; is féidir linn.