Martin Conway
Administrative Panel · Independent · Ireland
“I too would like to welcome Leryn to Seanad Éireann. It is a very special trip back to Ireland for her and I hope she enjoys her time here. I also echo the good wishes and the thanks to Martin and all his team who make life so much easier for us here, and I hope all colleagues across the House have an enjoyable summer.”
“I have come across a number of examples lately that are quite distressing. I have to do further research but if the information that has been brought to my attention is correct, it is very distressing. I also seek a further debate on tourism. We have the Walker Cup coming to Lahinch in September and people are very excited about.”
“Finally, I commend Cara Darmody, someone the Leader knows very well, who is at the gates of Leinster House doing her two-day protest. I think it is her second in the last year. I commend her on what she has achieved through her advocacy and her campaigning and what she will achieve. I know the Leader would agree with me on that.”
“I support Senator Harmon in her call and proposition regarding Bessborough. I did not realise that planning permission had been granted. It is horrendous. With all the land throughout the entire country, surely to God, we can deal with a housing crisis in a more humane and respectful way than granting planning permission on that site.”
“If they did, I have no doubt it would raise awareness. It would develop a respect for the water and save many lives. I also believe every young person should undergo first aid training before they leave school. Again, it is not a difficult thing to provide.”
“I acknowledge the work that has been done to improve things in Limerick and the announcement by the Minister for Health in recent weeks that there is going to be a completely new hospital built, which will be co-located with UHL and will have its own emergency department. That is extremely welcome. I am a realist.”
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“The Minister is welcome to the House. It is great that he comes to deal with his legislation on such a regular basis. We have spoken on previous occasions about Ministers having respect for the House. He has shown respect in spades and he is very welcome, as always. The Bill is part of a commitment in the programme for Government to embrace and develop new technologies in An Garda Síochána to enable the force to take full advantage of those new technologies to do its job more effectively. Facial recognition is in operation in many jurisdictions, in particular in airports and so on. Enabling An Garda Síochána to utilise and benefit from this type of technology makes absolute sense. I am glad to hear that it is recognised across the House that this is a step in the right direction. AI is something we are all trying to get our heads around.”
“There are a number of comments I would have liked to have made but I will ask one question that affects my constituency, Clare, and the MEPs' constituents as well relating to the proposed electric vehicle rental fleet mandate that is coming in in 2030. I want a commitment from the MEPs that Ireland will be exempt from that. If it is not, the entire rental fleet market will close. When people fly into Shannon Airport, Knock and other places, they will not be able to rent a car because there are not enough charging points to facilitate electric cars. If all rental cars are electric, it is just not going to work.”
“I welcome our MEPs, particularly Mr. Flanagan, who served here for a couple of years, and Mr. Cowen, who I served with in these Houses for many years before he went to Brussels. I commend them on the great work they are doing in Brussels on behalf of the people of Ireland. As a former Chair of the Seanad EU scrutiny committee, which the Cathaoirleach currently chairs, I hope this engagement is the start of a process that will evolve, mature and develop over the years. Unfortunately, the distance between Brussels and Ireland still exists. We need to bridge that democratic deficit and to do it urgently. When there is a deficit, a vacuum exists. I am conscious of the Cathaoirleach and of time.”
“It might not be a bad idea to refresh that very good report and draw up a supplementary report on farm safety, 15 years later. It is an issue on which we have to be ever vigilant. Beautiful days like today are the type of day that farmers embrace, want and need. We do not want people getting hurt or losing their lives so whatever can be done, in terms of raising awareness, should be done.”
“The Houses of the Oireachtas are very fortunate to have people of that calibre and I wish him every success over the next three and a half years in his role in Dáil Éireann. I would also like to wish the Acting Leader well in the coming days. I would like to echo the comments made on farm safety. The Cathaoirleach will recall the initiative of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee between 2011 and 2016, which resulted in a very good report on farm safety that included a series of recommendations. I was lucky enough to be the convenor back then. A number of the recommendations were taken on board by the Government at a time there were not huge resources in the country. Unfortunately, too many people are still losing their lives in farm accidents.”
“I would also like to pay huge tribute and congratulations to our former Leader, Seán Kyne, on his elevation to the Lower House. I have known Seán Kyne for more than 20 years at this stage. The first time I met him was prior to the 2007 Seanad election when he came and sat in my kitchen and from then on we were firm friends. Seán is there in good days and bad. He is a thoroughly decent person and is a loss to this House but a huge asset to Dáil Éireann. The people of Galway are very lucky to have a representative like Seán and they know it, because they elected him. Governments do not win by-elections but Seán Kyne did win a by-election, which is a testament to him, in the first and last instance, and his decency, integrity, backbone, intelligence, shrewdness and above all, his commitment to public service.”
“I would like the Minister for housing to come here for a short debate on infrastructure that is resulting in beaches, which have had blue flags for a long time, losing them.”
“I am conscious of time. I will raise a quick issue. It was disappointing to see Lahinch beach lose its blue flag status last week. I live a short distance from Lahinch beach. I am on it most mornings, including this morning. To see the beach, which had the blue flag for a long time, lose the blue flag status, is concerning. We need to have a debate in this House on why beaches are losing blue flags. A lack of investment in infrastructure, that is, in the wastewater treatment system essentially has caused this problem. For a long time it has been highlighted and called out that the system in the Lahinch-Ennistymon area needs to be upgraded urgently. Now we see the consequences of the lack of this investment over decades.”
“As I said at the outset, anything we can say or do in this House to highlight the fantastic work of An Garda Síochána and support them in the work they do is something we should do, should welcome and encourage.”
“We are hitting the summer period now and we are going to see thousands of people descend on County Clare for what will hopefully be a very nice and pleasant summer. In my area we need to see an extra couple of gardaí on the shifts so if there is a situation where action has to be taken, at least cover exists. In Ennis there was a recent briefing with Oireachtas Members and local councillors regarding the issue of manpower in Ennis. We need to see more gardaí. I acknowledge the progress that has been made and it is great to see the numbers of gardaí that are out on patrol now. That is very positive. We need to see that percolate right down to places that might not necessarily have benefited such as County Clare and other areas. This is a motion of support for An Garda Síochána. That is something I welcome, endorse, support and encourage.”
“The recent initiative of equipping gardaí with body cameras will provide them with protection. We had a situation where anybody could record a garda except a garda themselves. That was bizarre. In my county of Clare, and my own area of Clare which the Minister of State is very familiar with, there has been an unfortunate rise in antisocial behaviour. We need to see an extra shift of An Garda Síochána in the Ennistymon district. The problem is if there is a shift during which a garda has to attend an incident which then necessitates somebody being arrested, they have to be brought to Ennis to be detained. That is a round trip of an hour at a minimum but more likely two to three hours because of the paperwork involved and so on. The area is then exposed when the car has gone to Ennis. That needs to be addressed.”
“Their mere presence is a deterrent to a whole raft of different issues, from antisocial behaviour to robbery to just young fellas acting the maggot. I agree with the comments about the morale within An Garda Síochána. It certainly has improved in recent times and that is something that absolutely has to be welcomed because, for too long and too often, we have heard gardaí talking about the low morale, so that is a positive. However, morale will improve even further if they are respected with proper recompense in terms of allowances and expenses to ensure they are not out of pocket through doing their duty. We need to safeguard them as well. The motion alludes to issuing them with separate licences so if they are on the unfortunate side of a chase that they are protected.”
“The Minister of State is welcome to the House. I commend my Fine Gael colleagues on tabling a well thought-out motion. We can never speak highly enough or often enough in this House in support of An Garda Síochána. Over the years we have discussed An Garda Síochána frequently in this House. They have had many challenges and too many members of the force have lost their lives in the line of duty. We always remember them for the service they gave to the State, which was the ultimate price, and we think of their families as well. The gardaí in this country have a fantastic relationship with the community and that is something that An Garda Síochána is built on. That is why we need to see more gardaí among our community.”
“There might be a big school but it only has a small number of pupils. It is just physically big because of the structure. The Department needs to do a body of work in reviewing the capitation system and seeing if it can be more effective than what is in place at the moment.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I have no doubt Sixmilebridge along with many other schools engage with the financial support services unit of the Department. The global point is the increase in capitation is an urgent priority, which is reflected in the Minister of State's answer. Unfortunately, they are going to have to wait until September 2026 to see that from the budget. Perhaps there is a case to introduce an emergency top-up in capitation grants for this year, if possible, but the Department is already running a deficit. The Department needs to examine whether the capitation system and structure we have at the moment are fit for purpose. There are certain standards costs every school has whether it has 60 or 600 pupils such as electricity, maintenance and cleaning.”
“They make the students their number one priority so in order to find the headspace and time to deal with this, it has to be done outside of working hours. It puts pressure on boards of management to organise fundraisers and so on. Outside of the need for an immediate increase in the capitation grant, we also need to look at reviewing the capitation structure because if in a particular year, there is a drop of 20 or 30 students in a school, the capitation drops. There needs to be a baseline that the capitation reflects. If there is a sudden drop for a year or two, a school should not suffer financially. The hot school meals, free schoolbooks and other Government initiatives are fantastic but we cannot lose sight of the basics, which is happening now. We need to maintain our schools and keep them clean, lit and heated.”
“To achieve that, they had to cut their cleaning budget by 60%. We all know how important hygiene and clean schools are. To have to cut the budget by 60% is difficult. They are looking at doing a deep clean over the summer, as many schools do, and the quotes they have received are anything from €25,000 to €40,000, which is unsustainable. I am looking for a significant increase in the capitation fund per student for next year to help Gareth and other principals around the country address these costs and be able to focus on the work they are supposed to be focused on, which is managing a school and ensuring the children get the best education. This extra pressure and stress they are under is eating into their time.”
“While in budget 2025 the primary school capitation grant was increased by €24 to €224, it goes no way to meeting the costs schools face daily. The authorities in Sixmilebridge national school in County Clare, a fantastic facility, have been in contract with me. I pay tribute to Gareth Heagney, the principal, and his team of teachers and staff for their wonderful work in that great facility. The problem is they are facing enormous costs. On yearly basis in recent years, they have faced up to a €100,000 budget deficit. While school principals have an obligation to be prudent, to manage financially and to try to balance books, they are not supposed to or expected to, nor should they be, deal with financial crises. He, like many other principals, is dealing with a financial crisis. A €100,000 deficit is very hard to make up.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is good to have a Minister of State in the Department taking this important Commencement matter. I acknowledge the significant achievements and improvements that have taken place in primary education in recent years. Free school meals is an inspired programme to ensure every young person has a hot meal once a day. There is also the availability of free schoolbooks. When we were going to school, we bought second-hand books and all sorts of things. Now, the books are available courtesy of the State. It is an initiative that leads to equality. While all of those improvements are welcome, necessary and important, the basics are challenged significantly. Schools across the country are facing increased costs when it comes to essential issues such as cleaning, maintenance, heating and electricity.”
“It would be an exercise worth doing because, at the end of the day, the State is the biggest property owner in the country.”
“We are in a housing crisis and, in that context, we need to look at derelict properties. I have highlighted on a number of occasions properties in County Clare that have been idle for years, some owned by the OPW. There is a significant estate of property owned by the OPW that is lying vacant. I suggest that in every county in this country there are houses in the ownership of the OPW that are boarded up for one reason or another. They exist in many of our towns and villages. It is not just the OPW; it is a myriad of agencies across the State spectrum. I would like to see an audit led by the Department of the Taoiseach to establish exactly where we are and how these properties can be brought into use, starting with the ones that have been vacant for many years and moving along to the ones vacant for a small number of years.”
“I support the calls made regarding the National Ambulance Service and the need for urgent further engagement. We had the Minister for Health in Clare yesterday. She was out in the very west of Clare, in Kilkee, and she saw for herself the distances involved. People who suffer most when there is a strike are the vulnerable people and those who are the furthest distance away from the emergency departments. I call on all parties to reflect because it is critical at this stage. I call for a national audit on vacant properties in the ownership of the State. Between local authorities, the HSE, Irish Rail, Bus Éireann, the Department of education and the myriad other State and semi-State organisations and so on, the amount of derelict property is significant.”
“It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to our colleague Senator Joe O'Reilly, who is the longest-serving member of the Assembly of the Council of Europe, for the great work he has done over decades in terms of engaging on behalf of both our country and Europe on very important issues. I wish him well in his endeavours in that role going forward.”
“In this Parliament, there are two with declared disabilities, which is wonderful. In others, there are none. There is a huge job of work to do to create an environment where 10% of the population feel that there are people who identify with them are representing them in various parliaments. I sincerely hope that one of the priorities we embrace will be to create the type of environment that will allow persons with disabilities throughout Europe to feel they can participate in the political process. Our Presidency can be a cockpit for driving that type of initiative.”
“Unfortunately, we are still dealing with 80%-plus of people with disabilities requiring some sort of State supports, which is not really acceptable. The political participation of people with disabilities, a matter in respect of which my expert panel is tasked with coming up with processes, recommendations and so on, is even worse. We had a meeting of the expert panel in the Houses of the Oireachtas in November 2024, when people came from all over the OSCE countries. We produced the Dublin declaration, a set of recommendations on increasing the political participation of persons with disabilities. However, the level of participation is way below 1%. Only 0.02% of parliamentarians in Europe, whether they are in the European Parliament or in national parliaments, are person with disabilities. In most parliaments, there are none.”
“In my capacity as chair of the committee of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on political involvement of persons with disabilities, which is made up of experts from various OSCE countries, I addressed the European Parliament on persons with disabilities in 2024. There was great optimism at that time that we were on the cusp of something significant Europe-wide in terms of equality of persons with disabilities in employment, transport, independent living and so on. Unfortunately, that has not materialised to the degree that it should have or with the speed that we would have hoped. People might be quite taken aback to know that Ireland is one of the better performers when it comes to the categories to which I refer, but not when it comes to employment.”
“The role the Seanad has in terms of bridging the democratic deficit between Europe and the Irish people is significant and should really be utilised an awful lot more. It is great that MEPs come in here and they are always very welcome. That engagement started in the last Seanad and has developed into something very useful. I sincerely hope the scrutiny committee goes from strength to strength. Our Presidency of the European Union, which begins on 1 July next, will be crucial. It represents a huge opportunity for Ireland to make a statement on certain issues.”
“He and Senator Higgins will recall that some Departments were very co-operative and that others were not so co-operative. The objective was that all Departments would be co-operative and that we would conduct scrutiny. Some directives were technical in nature and would not necessarily need to be scrutinised, but others needed significant scrutiny by the sectoral committees. Essentially, that is the job; it is a kind of signposting exercise. It is like air traffic control to a large extent in that measures are sent to the committee for scrutiny. The aim was that all directives would be dealt with and transposed before we took over the EU Presidency. Let us see if that happens; I sincerely hope it does.”
“I take this opportunity to welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, who was here earlier. I listened to his contribution. He is a person I admire because he has moral courage and speaks out. I have been following him over the past 12 months, and he does speak out on important issues. That is something wanted to put on the record. When people voted to retain the Seanad in 2013, one of the key selling points was that we would have a greater role in scrutinising EU directives. On foot of his dogged determination a few years ago, the Cathaoirleach ensured that the EU scrutiny committee approved by Cabinet and established. I was very honoured to chair that committee during the lifetime of the previous Oireachtas. The Cathaoirleach is continuing that good work in terms of chairing of the EU scrutiny committee now.”
“Four out of five people who lose their sight in this country do so unnecessarily because they do not get the interventions at a critical time, including proper eye tests at critical junctures in their lives, and when they go to address the issue, it is too late or the deterioration has already started. The same applies with hearing loss. The Acting Leader might, at her convenience, request those two issues to be dealt with as one by the Minister for Health.”
“While a lot of lip service is delivered on the importance of these senses and of regular hearing and sight checks to eliminate preventable hearing loss and sight loss, we have not adopted a national strategy on either. These two strategies are critical because we are talking about hundreds of thousands of people who are affected with hearing loss and sight loss. While good work is being done in the HSE in both disciplines, there is no formalised adopted national strategy with targets and review mechanisms built in. We have seen how successful national strategies have been, particularly in the area of cancer and elsewhere. We critically need them in these two areas.”
“I know that we will have a debate today on Europe Day, which is very welcome. Europe got a great boost over the last 18 months with the Moldovan election and the latest Hungarian election. It gave a great spring in the step to the European project. I encourage Members to go down to the coffee dock after the Order of Business because the Oireachtas work learning, OWL, programme has put together a very good European Day with a competition and so on. It would be nice if it was supported because they put a huge amount of work into it. I request a debate here on a national strategy for low vision and low hearing. These are two critical senses.”
“If there is a bereavement in a family, the question suddenly arises as to who will look after the child or be his or her guardian. This is not normal legislation; it is crucial legislation. It needs to be commenced and the new Bill needs to be fast-tracked through this House. I am looking for a debate at the earliest convenience on this important issue.”
“It is quite concerning to learn that most of that groundbreaking legislation has not been implemented or activated yet, particularly section 12 of the Act, which would make a huge difference to the thousands of lives impacted. We pass legislation in this House in good faith. We debate and scrutinise it. It is scrutinised by the other House and by Oireachtas committees. That particular legislation was subject to significant Oireachtas scrutiny at the time. I would like a debate with the Minister on why so many sections of that very important legislation have not been commenced yet. We need a debate on surrogacy in general. There is now going to be amended legislation, which will be extremely important. We have a situation in this country where young people are not being treated equally.”
“I would like to join Senator McCarthy, and perhaps others, in wishing Ann Lane all the very best. We have known Ann around the House working with the Labour Party over the years. Her good humour does not surprise me whatsoever. I wish her every success. I hope she has enjoyed her expeditions overseas. The Leas-Chathaoirleach and I, along with other colleagues, were at a very powerful and emotional briefing in the audiovisual room, partly facilitated by our former colleague, Mary Seery Kearney. We all know the great work the former Senator did in this House to get the surrogacy legislation over the line in 2024. It was a labour of love for her for many years, certainly for the couple of years pre-2024.”
“We are about to announce the bones of €100 million in sports capital grants. I would like to see this being proofed in such a way that clubs that get grants have to demonstrate that they are open and accessible to all people, including those with disabilities. I know that one of the criteria is that they have to demonstrate that their facilities are open to others, if needed. However, I think a lot of it is box ticking. I do not believe there is genuine openness in the case of some of them. We have a huge amount of work to do to make sport genuinely accessible to people with disabilities. I would very much welcome statements in the House with the Minister of State with responsibility for sport on this specific issue, preferably ahead of the announcement of the sports capital funding.”
“I call for a debate on the participation of people with disabilities in sport. Many governing bodies have what I would describe as tokenistic inclusion and disability officers. Some make a genuine effort. For example, the FAI has its Football for All programme and there are other governing bodies that make an effort. However, in my view, there is not enough being done at all to create a level playing pitch - pardon the pun - for people with disabilities to meaningfully engage in active living and sport. I am a former board member of Active Disability Ireland, which did great work with governing bodies over the years, through Sport Ireland, to promote inclusion in a soft way through competitions, certificates and awards. Some organisations and sporting bodies did make a decent and genuine effort.”
“We ultimately need to make it very difficult for people over or under 18 to get their hands on vapes. The research is fairly clear that vapes lead on to other things. We owe it to the young people of this country not just to tell them vaping is wrong but to demonstrate it by removing it from our main streets, shopping centres, SuperValus and elsewhere where they are in your face as soon as you go in the door. We still have work to do on smoking. We need to ban smoking outside schools, pubs that do food and restaurants and places like that. There is a lot of work to do on smoking as well. The Minister of State is doing a good job and I know she is here to listen. I have no doubt but the final Bill might, I hope, reflect some of our concerns.”
“Publicans went on television at the time and said they ran the country and you hold your meetings in our premises. They did not run the country and the smoking ban at that stage was contentious but if one was to propose reintroducing smoking in pubs now, 98% of the population would go against it. I firmly believe vaping is the next challenge we need to deal with head on. There is no reason we cannot be the standard-bearers and set the standard in Europe in dealing with vaping. The first thing we need to do is remove signage over these shops and put vapes under the counter the same as cigarettes. I support getting rid of single-use vapes. That is appropriate. It has taken too long to get to this stage. It also took too long to prohibit under-18s from buying vapes.”
“In Ennis there are four or five of them. I was recently in Arthur's Quay shopping centre in Limerick. As soon as you go in the door, the first thing you see is a vape shop. I was in a SuperValu supermarket at the weekend and the brightest and most striking feature behind the customer service checkout was the vaping display. Why in God's name can we not just get rid of all advertising of vapes in shops? These shops would then have to comply with the style of a town. There is nothing as bad as seeing these awful vape shops lit up at night creating the temptation and attraction for young people. We are a great country but we were a great country when it came to what Micheál Martin did in March 2004 when he banned smoking in pubs.”
“I also acknowledge Senator Collins and admire her for giving up cigarettes. If vaping is helping in that regard, that is a good thing. I had a discussion with the Minister for disabilities in Australia when he visited Ireland in 2024. He said that vaping is actually illegal in Australia in the sense that you can only vape if you have a prescription to get a vape. I would love us to get to that point in Ireland, so somebody who is giving up cigarettes and needs an intervention to do that goes to their GP, gets a prescription, and vapes, as opposed to children and young people vaping with the danger of leading on to smoking and other substances. We need to actually grasp this out-of-control nettle and deal with it. You cannot walk on any main street in this country but you will notice the proliferation of these vape shops.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the House, and I welcome the legislation. Senator McDowell makes some pertinent points with which I agree. The example of the 15-year-old asking the 18-year-old extends to off licences, lottery tickets and all these other things as well. It is a major issue. As a former retailer, I have fierce sympathy for retailers. They are usually employing staff, and a lot of weekend staff in particular are only 17, 18 or 19 themselves. It is very difficult and very awkward. The global point I wish to make is that the former Ministers, Stephen Donnelly and the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, both brought in Bills. We have had a couple of different Bills on vaping. It is painstakingly slow. I am a big believer in getting legislation right and that does take time; I totally understand that.”
“I would like to hear from the Minister as to what his thoughts are on the next four or five years for our regional airports.”
“We need to refresh the regional airports strategy. We need to explore new and innovative ways of developing additional business. I commend the management team at Shannon Airport on the phenomenal work it has done in driving the airport through Covid and to its remarkable success to date, but a huge amount more can be achieved. We are all looking forward to the Ryder Cup next year, when Shannon Airport will be the base, hopefully, for a significant amount of activity, but I believe that tourism in this country is an all-Ireland business, particularly in the west of Ireland. Our airports are our connections to the rest of the world. Our airports along the west coast, particularly Shannon, can and should be used an awful lot more.”
“I call for a debate on the regional airports strategy. We hear a lot of talk about Dublin Airport and the removal of the cap and so forth. I am of the view that a cap in Dublin Airport does not necessarily benefit regional airports anyway, so lifting the cap, if it is good for Dublin, can be good for Ireland. That said, however, I am a big believer in our regional airports, particularly Shannon Airport. The debate taking place concerning the cap in Dublin Airport means there may be a lack of focus on our regional airports. We have had huge success with Knock Airport. We have seen Ryanair recently announce additional flights. Cork Airport is part of the DAA group so it is not considered a regional airport, but certainly Shannon and Knock, as well as Donegal and Kerry, are regional airports.”
“If these DACs were audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General, given they are in many cases more or less commercial operations, I would have more confidence because some of them could be brought into the public accounts committee. Because local authorities are audited by the local authority auditor, however, these DACs are by extension audited by the local authority auditor. A full review of them is needed and stress testing of their effectiveness and of the exposure for workers and the taxpayer.”
“The other problem I have with them is the potential in terms of worker's rights - workers who are not working for the local authority but are working for the local authority, because ultimately the local authority is their boss. Some of these DACs work very well but some do not. I will not name any this morning but perhaps I will in due course. Why are we making things so complicated when it comes to local government in this country? I do not think it is right that local authorities can come up with a creative structure to channel money that is not even under the auspices of the Comptroller and Auditor General.”
“I am looking for a review of a mechanism local authorities are using more and more to deliver projects, including some commercial projects. That is designated activity companies, DACs. In my view, DACs are a way for local authorities to keep certain projects at arm's length so as to reduce risk. That is fine but many DACs have loans guaranteed by the local authority and they are in commercial arrangements. Many of them are not effective and are losing money. I wonder if it is an appropriate mechanism for local authorities to obfuscate, in some respects; distance themselves, in other respects; eliminate their own risk; and maybe create risk for others.”
“The Cabinet handbook has to be disability-proofed; I do not think it is. Everything about every Department and every Minister's portfolio needs to reflect disability, access and equality. We will not get everything right. The Minister of State will not get everything right, but she should give it a damn good shot and I have every confidence that she will.”
“With less than 20% eyesight, I can do a job that I love and can be good at a job that I love. The fact that I have been elected and re-elected three times in succession means I must be doing the job reasonably well. However, there are many more like me the length and breadth of the country who cannot and do not get the opportunity to follow their dreams and work in a job that gives them fulfilment, gives them an income and gives them equality, where they pay their taxes and are full members of society. The objective of the Minister of State and the Government should be to ensure that every person with a disability can maximise their ability and can work, can socialise, and can be involved in culture, arts and sport. I listened to her opening statement and I know this can only be achieved with a whole-of-government approach.”