Dr. Aideen Hartney:

The National Disability Authority, NDA, would like to thank the Chair and the members of the Joint Committee on Justice for the opportunity to present here today. The NDA was established in 2000 to provide independent and evidence-informed advice to the Minister on policy and practice relevant to the lives of persons with disabilities, and to operate a centre for excellence in universal design. Universal design promotes the design of the built environment, products, services and ICT, so that they can be accessed, understood and used by everyone, regardless of age, size, ability or disability. Our work includes research, advice, guidelines, codes of practice, and input to standards, and is also informed by the experiences and views of persons with disabilities.

Ireland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in 2018. Many of the convention's articles are relevant to the remit of the Joint Committee on Justice, most notably Article 13, which obliges states parties to ensure effective access to justice for persons with disabilities on an equal basis with all others. Other relevant articles include Article 5 on equality and non-discrimination, Article 9 on accessibility, and Article 12 on equal recognition before the law.

Article 4(3) obliges states parties to closely consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities in the development and implementation of legislation and policy relevant to the convention. The NDA advises that this Joint Committee might consider to how it could engage with the voice and lived experience of persons with disabilities in its work, including through disabled persons organisations.

The National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2022, or NDIS, is the whole-of-Government approach to improving the lives of persons with disabilities, and is also the current vehicle for progressive realisation of the UNCRPD. Our written submission outlines several NDIS actions that are relevant to the work of this committee, including Action 18B which obliges the Department of Justice and agencies to ensure all initiatives relevant to access to justice incorporate the needs of persons with disabilities.

Previous research points to the over-representation of persons with disabilities interacting with the Irish justice system, as both victims and perpetrators of crime. However, the collection of data is fragmented and does not fully capture the reality of persons with disabilities engaging in court proceedings, or the wider justice system. We urge agencies to put in place a co-ordinated approach to collecting, disaggregating and sharing data, in order to inform future policymaking, in line with UNCRPD Article 31.

Realising the goals of the convention will require implementation of accommodations across the system that enable persons with disabilities to have access to justice on an equal basis with others.

Some of these accommodations will concern procedural matters within the justice journey and others will concern matters related to physical accessibility. One of the key areas where procedural accommodations can be made is in upholding the rights of victims of crime to understand and to be understood in the context of criminal proceedings. This includes provision for the use of an intermediary to facilitate communication with the individual giving evidence. In an independent advice paper from 2020, the NDA set out how a standardised and regulated system could be put in place to support the provision of intermediaries to all persons with communications difficulties. Many have disabilities from the earliest moment of engagement with the justice system, often in a Garda station, and onwards to court, as required. The NDA is pleased to be contributing to the work being done by the Department of Justice to establish a pilot scheme of trained and accredited intermediaries.

The Irish Sign Language Act 2017 obliges courts to do all that is reasonable to ensure that a person who chooses to communicate in Irish Sign Language, ISL, during court proceedings is accommodated to do so. A report that we recently submitted concerning the operation of the Act found that, for the most part, criminal courts do provide ISL interpretation as needed, although improvements in the knowledge and awareness of the Judiciary would support more robust provision. Civil courts, however, showed less preparation in respect of the commencement of the Act. We look forward to the forthcoming amendment to section 7 of the Juries Act 1976 to ensure that deaf persons who need the services of a sign language interpreter will be able to undertake jury duty. We also welcome the landmark inclusion of Patricia Heffernan as the first deaf member of a jury in September 2020.

Existing legislation and strategies oblige all public bodies to ensure that their buildings, including courthouses, are physically accessible to all persons, including persons with disabilities. Section 25 of the Disability Act 2005 requires public buildings to be compliant with Part M of the building regulations of 2010 by 1 January 2022. These obligations extend to relevant courthouses. Our review of this section of the Act in 2019, conducted with the Office of Public Works, OPW, highlighted poor awareness of these obligations across the public sector. More modern courthouses are often more accessible-----