It is a finite list, so it cannot purport to represent the infinite variety of all human beings which, as I said, should be celebrated.

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that No. 17 be taken before No. 1. This concerns the Disability (Personalised Budgets) Bill 2024, which will revolutionise the situation for disabled citizens in the State who cannot get the services, supports, therapies and surgeries they need. It would take control away from the HSE and put it into the hands of disabled citizens and carers. I thank my colleagues in Seanad Éireann for signing the Bill, co-sponsoring it and supporting me. I got support from across th…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend and extend the Disability Act 2005 and to provide for related matters.

Next Tuesday.

I thank Senator Mullen for letting me lead off. The Minister is very welcome to the House. I am that rare commodity in that I am a Trinity Senator, even though I am from Finglas. I am very proud to be a representative of that august institution here and very grateful to have been elected. I voted for Seanad reform in the last referendum. Sad to say, I was a teenager in 1979, believe it or not, so I remember that referendum, which led to a constitutional amendment expanding the franchise to all graduates of higher e…

I am looking for a little clarity. I am delighted to see that the Government has resolved to fully endorse the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including the optional protocol. While I understand that the Cabinet has agreed to do this, when will this happen and on what date? I have heard some mixed messages that it might be December and, given the circumstances of the likelihood or otherwise of a general election, I am not really sure what this means. I would like some clarity on precisely …

We will take six minutes each if that is okay.

In that case, I had better be quick. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I welcome the publication of the report and thank Senator Carrigy for all the work he has done on this and all my colleagues who have worked with him on it. His group was established prior to my election. I am delighted that all after that work, it has come to fruition today. I also thank the Minister of State for putting pressure on her colleagues in Cabinet to reach this agreement to fully ratify the optional protocol on t…

That is when my advocacy as a parent began because in Ireland, as a parent and carer and as a family who experience disability, you become de facto an advocate. I approached the line Minister at the time. I never got to speak to the Minister for Health. I would characterise the response then, in 2011, as one of hostility and quite confrontational. The attitude was one of “So, you want to skip the queue”, “You are a queue jumper” and “I am your best friend now, am I?” It was that kind of stuff. I grew up in Finglas.…

I just wanted to acknowledge the work that has been done. I feel a sea change in relation to our community. All of us need to come together. Whether it is neurodivergence, intellectual or physical disability, we have the most powerful lobby in the country. If disabled persons' organisations and parents like me who are mandated under the UNCRPD to advocate for parents come together and work together, it will be the most powerful, unstoppable movement in this Republic and the last bastion of fundamental human rights,…

Hear, hear.

Well said.

I echo the sentiments concerning Mary O'Rourke. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dílis. I want to raise again in the House the case of Caitlin Ada Joanne Hassan. I give her full name, as I did on a Commencement matter, because she is a human being. She is a young woman who was sexually and physically assaulted while in the care of the State in a section 39 care provider, Avista. Caitlin's mum, Louise Hassan, is here with her solicitor, Caoimhe Haughey. We brought this matter to the attention of the House and the Minis…

I echo Senator Ward's concerns about criminal barristers and free legal aid. It is an issue that goes to our fundamental trust in the administration of justice. It is an index of society that is extremely important. The Minister of State and I share an intimate understanding of the challenges posed by disability. I do not for one moment doubt his integrity and commitment to the circumstances that confront disabled Irish citizens and carers. For carers and social protection for disabled citizens, the word "underwhel…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank him for coming along and deputising for the Minister for Health. Cathaoirleach, why is the Minister for Health not here?

I want it noted for the record that the Minister for Health never appears here for any of the Commencement matters that I submit, no matter how grave. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but three times or more is a strategy. This is a matter of such gravity and I infer from his absence today an attitude towards the issues that I am raising continuously in this House, which shows a contempt, not for me but for this House and Commencement matters in general as well as for the most vulnerable people in Irish s…

I am sorry, but on a point of order, this family has relinquished its anonymity.

Therefore, not only is it appropriate for the HSE to comment on an individual case but it is obliged to.

This is a rhetorical device that is used to protect it and indemnify it from responsibility and I reject it.

It is a point of order.