Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I warmly welcome the Minister of State and thank her for being here. I also thank my colleague, Senator Clonan. What an achievement. How right he was to pursue what he believed was the right thing to do. He is an outstanding advocate for the disability sector. He is an outstanding advocate in this House for many things and I am terribly proud that he is on our benches in the Independent Group in the Seanad. Persistence and his firm belief in what he was doing convinced everyone in this House.

There were difficulties. The nature of our Parliament is that we have the Government and the Opposition and it is important we have both - in a positive light - to shine on legislation. Legislation is not easy. It is particularly difficult when we have the might of a huge Government as we have had for two or three terms. However, we can achieve a lot. A lot of politics and progress in policy can be achieved by sitting down and talking to a front-line Minister and explaining the difficulties we may have with a Bill.

Senator Clonan persisted. I commend him on sharing. It is not easy to share one's personal circumstances in life because when we talk about ourselves, we are also talking about our families and they do not go into politics. Clearly, Senator Clonan's family was connected to this, including his son Eoghan who I know well, having met him on many occasions. Senator Clonan champions him and treats him as an equal, as he does all other people with disabilities. I have had the pleasure of being in his home and I have met Eoghan, Senator Clonan's lovely wife and family and seen the support they have. Not everyone with a disability has or can have that support for a variety of reasons. That is not to say there is not the support, or willingness of guardians or families to be there.

I thank the Minister of State and the Government. As Senator Clonan said in his few words today, it was an emotional journey. There were many setbacks. There was highly charged engagement and dialogue. The Senator brought it through the Private Members' slot. I also thank my other colleagues who are always supportive of Senator Clonan for prioritising this as the most important piece of Private Members' business since we came into this Seanad. We stuck with it because we believed it was the right thing to do, but Senator Clonan led from the front. He convinced us and everyone else and everyone stayed the course with him. Today is the culmination of all that. It is a day to give thanks to all sides including the Department officials.

There is always the issue of resources, constraints and so on. I will just make one request. This legislation is now coming to its completion. Well done again to Senator Clonan. Let us not let it sit on the shelves to gather dust. Let us all sign up to a commitment to work with the Government to see incremental roll-out of the various passages and what is necessary to make this a living document that people can live with and be supported by. On this and the opposite side of the House, there is a willingness to progress this matter. I hope we can keep in touch with one another and prioritise the work. There will be incremental parts and difficulties from time to time because of various resources, but the commitment is here.

What are we at the end of the day? Legislators. Someone said to me the other day that there is a lot of noise in Leinster House. Physical noise was not meant, but there is a lot of dialogue, talking, exchange of papers and ideas and exchanges about policy. However, when that is all watered down, what is critical to us as legislators is that Bills are signed into law to become Acts. This will be a legacy, driven by Senator Clonan. It will be Senator Clonan's legacy and that of his family, who took the courage, cited many examples and liaised with many advocacy groups so that at the end of the day we have a concise Bill that will, I hope, find its way to be signed into law. Let us see this as a turning point, marking the beginning of better space, better policy and better supports for people with disabilities. I commend Senator Clonan. Well done.