Ms Sinéad Gibney:

I want to build on the questions Deputy Wynne asked on the optional protocol and the timing. I absolutely welcome the Secretary General's comment that the Minister and Department will be open to bringing forward the optional protocol's ratification and not sequencing it after the committee process because that would guarantee a much longer delay. We do not need to delay any further. Deputy Wynne said the complaints procedure itself takes time. That ratification can happen now does not mean it will not result in problems for the Department immediately. It will still give the Department and Government time to put in place the systems and procedures mentioned.

Nominal ratification is, in itself, such a message and a commitment to those in the disability community who have fought so hard for ratification. I remind members of the testimony or evidence received from Professor Gerard Quinn last year. He pointed out the inconsistency in the approaches of the Government to the optional protocol to the CRPD and the revised European Social Charter. Indeed, he believed commencement should happen immediately.