Victor Boyhan praises private member's disability bill victory

Just to say, I want to firstly warmly welcome the Minister and to thank you to be here. I also want to thank my colleague Tom Clonan. What an achievement and how right you were to pursue what you believe was the right thing to do. You're an outstanding advocate for the disability sector. Indeed, you're an outstanding advocate in this House for many things and I'm terribly proud that you're on our benches as an independent group in Leinster House. And I think persistence and a real firm belief in what you were doing convinced everyone in this House. We know by the very nature of our Parliament we have government in opposition and it's important that we have both in a positive light to shine legislation. Legislation is not easy. It's particularly difficult when you have the might of a huge government that we've had in this House for two or three terms, but we can achieve a lot. A lot of politics and a lot of progress in policy can be achieved by just literally sitting down and talking to a frontline minister and explaining sometimes the difficulties you have with a piece of legislation. But you persisted and I want to firstly commend you for sharing. It's not easy to share your own personal circumstances in life because when you talk about yourself, you're also talking about your own family and they don't go into politics. But clearly your family, we're clearly all connected with this and your son, Owen, who I know well and met on many occasions. And I know how you champion and treat him as an equal, as you are with all other people with disabilities. They've had the pleasure of being in your home and have met Owen and your lovely wife and family and the support that they have. And not everyone with a disability has that support or can have that support for a variety of reasons. That's not to say there isn't the support or the willingness of guardian or family to be there. But I want to thank the minister. I want to thank the government because I think through, as you said in your few speaking words here today, you mentioned it was an emotional journey. There were many setbacks. It was a highly charged engagement of dialogue. And you brought this through the private member slot. And I also want to thank my other colleagues who are always supportive of you in prioritising this as the most important piece of private member's business since we came into this, Shannon. And we stuck because we believe it was the right thing to do. But you led from the front. You convinced us. You convinced everybody else. And everyone stayed, of course, with you. And I think today is the accumulation of all of that. And it is a day to give thanks to all sides, the department, the officials. And, of course, there's always the issue of resources and constraints and everything. I just make one ask is that we have this piece of the legislation is now coming to its completion. Well done again to you, Tom. But let's not now, minister, let this piece of legislation sit on the shelves to gather dust. Let's us all sign up to a commitment to work with government to see the various passages and the incremental rollout of what is necessary to make this a living document that people can live with and be supported with. And I know on this side of the house, as I do on the opposite side of the house, the government side of the house, there is a willingness to progress this matter. And hopefully we can constantly keep in touch with each other and prioritise the work. Yes, there will be incremental parts. Yes, there will be difficulties from time to time because of various resources. But the commitment now is here. The legislation, what are we at the end of the day, legislators? Someone said to me the other day, and I'll finish on this, there's a lot of noise in Leinster House. And what I meant was not physical noise, but a lot of dialogue, a lot of talking, a lot of exchange of papers, a lot of exchange of ideas, a lot of exchange about policy. But when you alter all that down, you know, what's really critically important for us as legislators, that we have bills that are signed into law that become acts, that are there for the time. This will be a legacy that you have driven. It will be a legacy to you, Senator Clowne, and your family, who took the courage, cited many, many examples, and also liaised with many advocacy groups. But at the end of the day, we have what is a concise piece of legislation that will hopefully find its way to be signed into law and let us see this as a turning, a beginning of a turning point for a better space, a better policy, and better support for people with disabilities. I commend you, Tom. Well done. Thank you.