I am overly enthusiastic.

Has the Minister impressed on the Government the urgency of ratifying the optional protocol of the UNCRPD? Ratification would allow people with disabilities to take a case to the UN over violation of their rights. Does he believe that the State needs to progress the adoption of the optional protocol as a matter of urgency?

Ireland has come in for much criticism by the UN for its failure to ratify the UNCRPD. Mr. Markus Schefer, a member of the UN Committee on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, said it gives the impression that Ireland is not confident or comfortable enough to open itself up to international scrutiny. He was speaking to the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. Ireland signed the convention in 2007 but it took us 11 years to implement it. In 2020, the Government promised to sign up to the opti…

Thank you. God bless us. I have so much to say.

I am not so sure that we do have to wait. That is what we committed to but we are not alone. There are ten other countries which have not signed up for it. But 13% of Ireland's population have a disability. I am a new Deputy. When I was canvassing these groups they told me they only see politicians every five years, meaning at election time. In 2020, when we actually said that we would sign up to the protocol, it was an election ploy. That is their feeling and that is discriminatory. Thirteen percent of America's p…

Is it a priority?

It is the significance that it is 13% of a smaller population but, nonetheless, it would not be tolerated.

Black lives matter. Disability matters.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in support of this motion. I thank Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh and my colleague, Deputy Seán Canney, for putting this motion together. I want to focus on a particular section of the motion, which I know will be repeated a number of times. The motion states: "the unprecedented increase in construction costs, rising costs of materials and the shortage of skilled labour in Ireland is putting the cost of these upgrades and essential works beyond the reach of most of the recipients o…

The whistleblower, Mr. Shane Corr, was suspended last week because he put information in the public domain that explained the dysfunctionality of the Department of Health and the HSE. His actions were admirable and without doubt in the public interest. He has done this State some service but it appears if someone does the State a service, they will get suspended. The chief executive of Wexford County Council, Mr. Tom Enright, has had one of the most damaging findings from the Standards in Public Office Commission, …

We have heard it all before. Every time the Taoiseach says it, it just gets ignored. When he talked about honesty being the order of the day, the key point is that when somebody does something right in the Civil Service to ensure the public is safeguarded, they get punished. When a person does something wrong, and the State watchdog is scathing in its delivery of a report on that wrongdoing, they get a round of applause and a standing ovation from a county council led by a Fianna Fáil chair, Ms Barbara-Anne Murphy.…

They are the Taoiseach's foot soldiers.

The Independents did not.

It does not really matter.

It matters to the people of Wexford.

Fianna Fáil does not care-----

Freedom of the press.

Was it wrong to give him a standing ovation?

There is no twisting. These are facts.

The Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment has completed its consideration of the Consumer Rights Bill 2022, and has made amendments thereto. The Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has completed its consideration of the Electoral Reform Bill 2022, and has made amendments thereto.