I welcome the chance to speak on the legislation. We are dealing with a Bill that aims to make sure vulnerable people are not left in limbo because the State itself cannot process cases on time. While I will not go into technicalities that others have covered, the heart of this Bill is simple. It is to ensure that no person who depends on the courts for capacity-related decisions ends up caught in a gap created by missed deadlines or slow administration. If the scheme fails to meet its own schedules, people should not pay the price. That is a principle I will always stand over. When we talk about protecting vulnerable people, we cannot ignore another crisis that is happening right now, which is hitting disabled people and their families far harder than most. This Chamber fully appreciates that over the past months, we have seen major protests in Dublin with hundreds of disabled people, carers, families and supporters marching to demand fairness. In one demonstration, held on 28 February, we saw up to 400 people gathering to highlight the devastating blow delivered by budget 2026, which has left disabled people up to €1,400 worse off. I would link that to the situation we are in now. These people need help. They desperately need someone to mind them in many cases. They need someone to make a decision for them, in many cases, but they are suffering themselves. We should not have left them in that situation, and the budget should not have left them in that situation. The groups that are advocating for these people are calling very clearly for a €400 emergency disability payment because many cannot make ends meet under the current pressure. This is not coming from one group or one organisation. It is coming from a coalition that includes the Irish Wheelchair Association, the Disability Federation of Ireland and Access for All Ireland. I was talking about the assisted decision-making Bill. I sat in with a family member recently who was anxious to get some help. The family member for whom this person was looking for help is severely incapacitated. When this person asked the body I was sitting before why the family member had not gotten the help, the body said that the family member did not want it. It looked to me like the person who was incapacitated and not able to make that decision was being listened to and the family were not being listened to. That is really along the link of this as well. The groups also said that the removal of the previous one-off supports I was talking about a while ago has left disabled people choosing between heating and eating. Anyone who has ever dealt with real hardship knows that this is not an exaggeration; it is the lived reality of thousands of households today. As I said, we could talk a lot about what we will do in caring for people. In fairness, I found the situation I mentioned a while ago astonishing. The person who is incapacitated had a say while the family, who are getting older and need the care and attention for that person, did not have any say even though they are the people who are caring for this individual. I can understand where this comes in. I can understand why we should support many aspects of it. However, I would like to know from the Minister of State how soon it is going to be implemented. Is it going to deliver for those who need it to be delivered? Maybe the Minister of State can clarify that as time goes on.

Sentiment score: 0.04