Disability Federation of Ireland

Lobbying Organisation Disability Federation of Ireland

Date published 21 May, 2020

Relevant Matter Public policy or programme

Public Policy Area Justice and Equality

Period 1 Jan, 2020 to 30 Apr, 2020

Specific Details COVID-19

Intended results For people with disabilities to be included, and their for their needs to be taken into consideration, in any decision making in response to COVID-19

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Allen Dunne, Joanne McCarthy, John Dolan, Fleachta Phelan, Lisa Fenwick, Meredith Raley, Ríona Morris, PJ Cleere

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Letter (2-5)

2 Letters were sent to An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar & Kathleen MacLellan, Assistant Secretary (Social Care Division) of the Department of Health, seeking for the Disability Umbrella Organisations to have a seat on the Planning Group for COVID-19 (NPHET) & for funding and resources to be allocated towards people with disabilities as part of any contingency plans in response to COVID-19.

Email (2-5)

2 Emails were sent to An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar & Kathleen MacLellan, Assitant Secretary (Social Care Division) of the Department of Health containing copies of the letters aforementioned.

Email (2-5)

1 Email was sent to Deirdre Kelly in the Department of Rural & Community Development with the joint proposal "Using LCDCs to Coordinate the Community Response to COVID-19" from DFI & The Wheel attached. 1 Email was sent to An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, seeking support for said proposal sent to the Department of Rural & Community Development aforementioned.

Phone call (1)

1 Follow up phone call was made to Deirdre Kelly in the Department of Rural & Community Development to discuss the joint proposal "Using LCDCs to Coordinate the Community Response" in further detail.

Submission (1)

A joint submission was sent via email to the Department of Rural & Community Development entitled "Resilience fund for Charities and Community & Voluntary Organisations". This was co-signed by: - Alliance of Age Sector NGOs - Boardmatch Ireland - Carmichael Centre - Charities Institute Ireland - Clann Credo - Disability Federation of Ireland - Dóchas - Irish Rural Link - National Federation of Voluntary Bodies - National Forum of Family Resource Centres

Phone call (1)

1 Phone call was made to Councillor Frank Fahy (Galway West) requesting action on securing accessible transport for people with disabilities to be able to attend family funerals during COVID-19.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Leo Varadkar Taoiseach (Department of the Taoiseach)

Kathleen MacLellan Assistant Secretary (Department of Health)

Frank Fahy Councillor (Galway City Council)