Ms Sinéad Gibney:

Yes. I will keep it brief as I know we are coming up to time. I will give an answer similar to what I mentioned with regard to local authorities. If Government be doing this. It has now been on the Statute Book for seven years and, unfortunately, 80% in the most recent round failed to fully comply with it in their strategy statements.

With regard to starting to assess, address and report, it is a framework which is ready-made for Departments to now implement. They are saying it will take account, not only of disability, but all equality and human rights issues. That is important. Another thing we have been calling for is an Oireachtas committee on equality, human rights and diversity. This is something we saw during Covid-19 in particular, in terms of a lack of scrutiny within the legislative process. We have been calling for this since 2016 and it would assist Departments and the members, as legislators, in this work.

When one is talking about implementation, it is important to mention some of the key concerns we have. We will be reporting formally on the first period. Our key concerns are lack of participation, which applies to Departments, and if there is one thing Departments need to embody, it is increased participation of people with disabilities in decision-making; key legislative gaps, around which Mr. Harris has given some detail; the slow pace of the institutionalisation of disability services and with regard to the articles related to life and health, we have concerns around mortality rates, people with disabilities taking more medication than those without, increasing waiting lists and very low levels of timely completion of assessment of needs. In terms of health outcomes, persons with disabilities are twice as likely to live in consistent poverty, compared to non-disabled people and half as likely to be employed. Those are some of the headline concerns in terms of implementation.