I thank the Minister for his statement in response to our motion this morning. I worked in disability services as a social care worker for many years. We have heard many voices, specifically of those with disabilities, come through this morning. I would like to share a common trend among family members of people with disabilities who often shared a consistent experience of having to navigate the mechanisms of the State, the outcomes of which they felt were often down to luck more than design and who, at times, had to show resilience within their family after getting refusal after refusal and having to apply through various mechanisms and fora in order to be able to avail of what essentially are basic services, basic funds and basic grants. It could be made an awful lot easier. The reason I want to share that is that when you draw specific attention to language, all we are trying to do this morning is to represent the voices of those we have heard over recent weeks, recent months and recent years who have said the system is broken. Notwithstanding some of the great work that the Minister has highlighted in his response this morning, we should start from a common place, that, right now, budget 2026 targeted people with disabilities by leaving them with considerably less than before. The Minister mentioned the idea of the cost-of-disability payment being a top priority for him. There is another trend here where disability payments are a priority. Child poverty is a priority. Housing is a priority. Health is a priority. Everything is a priority for this Government but the outcomes are not improving. If anything, what we are seeing is the outcomes in some of these top priority areas disimproving. Then we see the Taoiseach set up a unit within the Department as if that is going to be the silver bullet to change the lived experience of people's lives, whether it is in child poverty or for those who are experiencing disability. As a very constructive proposal this morning, what we have tried to do is present something that is workable and pragmatic but is a necessity. It is not an optional extra; it is a necessity. The Minister is choosing to amend or do away with our motion. That is fine but we sincerely implore the Minister to consider this in the short term while he and his officials work on the cost-of-disability payment for budget 2027. Whatever way, shape or form this looks, it must be brought forward in the next couple of days or weeks to make sure basic services for people with disabilities can be met.

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