John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Commissioner Oettinger to Ireland and hope his travels have a good outcome. I have a particular interest in the 80 million people with disabilities in Europe. The European Union is in the unique position of being the only non-state party to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It follows that the EU must not only comply with the convention, but also advance the inclusion of people with disabilities across its competencies. This should guide and incentivise the greatest possible degree of compliance in terms of mainstreaming in the multi-annual financial framework and the EU's semester process. Similarly, compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is intrinsic to achieving the European pillar of social rights and the sustainable development goals. The multi-annual financial framework and semester process are key mechanisms for achieving and implementing these and other objectives. How does Commissioner Oettinger envisage the semester process and MFF being able to advance these objectives at European level?

Over the past decade, the European Union has demonstrated that it can act with determination, strength and resolve when dealing with crises. However, as everyone will agree, poverty, exclusion and inequality have increased to unacceptable levels across the EU and the people worst affected are those who are already marginalised and disadvantaged. In that respect, I speak for people with disabilities. The EU must urgently take strong, determined and resolute action to improve the lives of people with disabilities in line with commitments in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As I stated, there are 80 million people in the EU with disabilities. I will make three simple points about disability. First, disability results in increased poverty for those affected. Second, it increases their exclusion and that of their families in a range of ways. Third, when the first two factors are combined, there is a loss of hope.

A number of speakers referred to defence. The European Union is a precious and unique regional entity and no other entity in the world comes close to it as a model. Notwithstanding that, the Union has problems and it strikes me that disintegration and the breaking down from within is as great a threat as are external threats. I am not disputing that the EU faces external threats but sometimes threats are imported or develop from within. One of the greatest defence mechanisms for entities such as the EU and its member states is to strengthen social cohesion. This requires a specific focus on people and families on the margins, even if the instinct may be to argue that doing this would be unaffordable. There is no doubt this is necessary when one considers how people with disabilities are affected across a range of indicators, including employment, poverty and education status.

Commissioner Oettinger set the scene, with which we in Ireland are familiar from the past decade. The European Union's revenue is declining while expenditure is increasing and it is acquiring new responsibilities. The Commissioner referred, for example, to migration, development aid, refugees, border controls and terrorism but did not mention Europeans with disabilities.