Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I invite him and the disability rights organisations to make submissions on the White Paper review. The consultation process will take place between January and March next year and the review will conclude by next July. I welcome the concept of a rights-based approach.

I also welcome this opportunity to address the important issue of how our overseas development programme takes account of the needs of people with disabilities. Disabled people are more vulnerable to poverty and its effects than much of the rest of the population. In humanitarian emergencies, people with disabilities face additional risks as a result of dislocation and displacement and specific difficulties accessing services and support. The World Health Organization recognises that an effective response to disability has to be a complex one. Action is required across a diverse range of activities so that disability can be prevented and so that disabled people are not excluded or exploited. This is the basis of Irish Aid's approach to disability.

Disability is one of a number of issues which are mainstreamed across all aspects of our long-term development programme. This means that the issues around disability are systematically considered in the design of development programmes and addressed in a multidimensional way. Examples of this approach include specific references to disability in Irish Aid's education and health policies and strategies. There is an emphasis on access by the disabled and other marginalised groups within our support to basic education in developing countries. We work with governments in Zambia, Ethiopia and Uganda to ensure the inclusion of disability in a comprehensive social protection framework. In particular, we work for the provision of allowances to disabled people as a means of providing them with economic security, preventing them from falling into destitution and empowering them to participate and reach their potential in society.

We also work to ensure that services are provided to assist disabled people to deal with their particular disabilities and associated limitations. In this context, Irish Aid supports Irish development NGOs, such as Concern, GOAL, Trócaire, Christian Aid and Self Help Africa, all of which undertake health and human rights work that benefits disabled people. The aid programme also has an important partnership with the International Labour Organisation which focuses on assisting people with disability and advocating on legislation for disability in Africa. The partnership has a particular emphasis on disabled women and it also focuses on assisting people with disability to gain employment and set up their own businesses. This programme is regarded internationally as a leader in addressing disability issues in development.

In responding to humanitarian emergencies, Irish Aid takes particular care to address the specific needs of people with disabilities. This commitment is one of the guiding principles of our humanitarian relief policy. Acting on it during an emergency or humanitarian response requires the full involvement of people with disabilities in needs assessments and planning. We ensure this approach is adopted by Irish Aid itself and by our partner organisations. All our humanitarian interventions are guided by the standards set out in the Sphere handbook, the international best-practice manual, based on the obligations under international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law. This makes specific references throughout to the need for people with disabilities to be fully taken into account in all emergency programming. Specific instances of the inclusion of disability in Irish Aid humanitarian programming include the stipulation last year following the Haiti earthquake that sanitation facilities, including latrines, should be designed to facilitate access by the disabled.

I assure the House and the Senator of the Government's full agreement that Ireland's official aid programme must address the needs of people with disabilities and actively promote the improvement of their quality of life. As a mainstreamed issue, disability benefits from resources directed across a range of long-term development programmes and emergency humanitarian action. This is in addition to specific funding provided to groups working directly on disability, which last year amounted to over €2 million.

We will continue to engage with our development and humanitarian partners to ensure that the needs of people with disabilities receive the high priority they deserve in the aid programme. I encourage the Senator to engage in the review of the White Paper.