Mr. Niall Brunell:

I thank the Deputy for his question. I do not have in front of me the full list of reservations Ireland entered. I can revert to the Deputy with that information. I will speak to the general point. Ireland entered a number of reservations when it was ratifying the UNCRPD in 2018. It is important to note we joined a number of countries entering similar reservations for particular rationales. The Deputy referred to Article 12. The assisted decision-making Act brings us into much closer compliance, as of yesterday, with Article 12. Ireland entered a reservation in respect of that article such that, with proper safeguards and where provided by law, Ireland would allow for some form of substituted decision-making. There is a classic dilemma in that regard, as recognised by the higher tiers of support in assisted decision-making. If a person is in a coma, for example, somebody needs to make decisions on that person's behalf where provided by law with safeguards and strictly in line with the person's will and preference. In terms of clarifying Ireland's understanding of what ratification of Article 12 means, a reservation was entered on substituted decision-making.

As regards Article 14, in the Irish context it relates to protection of liberty safeguards. That legislation is the responsibility of the Department of Health. Before the pandemic, work was done on that up to the point of a general scheme and consultation but then, due to the need to reorient the work of that Department in response to the pandemic, work slowed. We welcome the fact it has been taken up again this year. We look forward to engaging with the Department on that and have already done so.

In the context of Article 27, the reservation related to a number of employment criteria, largely relating to appointments to emergency services. Ireland's reservations related to clarifying its understanding of the convention such that certain roles would not be automatically appropriate for the employment of people with certain impairments. For example, there are certain first responder emergency services roles that might have physical mobility criteria. Such roles could include firefighters, ambulance service personnel and so on. Ireland entered a reservation for those kinds of specific and limited roles. It reserved the right to, where prescribed by law, set certain employment criteria. Wider roles in the fire service, Defence Forces or An Garda would not be subject to that reservation, however. It is a very limited number of exceptions for certain set circumstances. Ireland had similar ratifications to a very large number of other countries in respect of those articles.

DPOs, sometimes referred to as representative organisations, are set out in the convention.

They can be distinguished from other kinds of civil society organisations as being broadly described as organisations by persons with disabilities for persons with disabilities. Obligations are set out in the consultation with regard to consultation with the DPOs. There are also other obligations set out in the convention around consultation with persons with disabilities more broadly. The general thrust of the convention, read holistically, is that states should do whatever produces the best outcome for people with disabilities in the circumstances. Articles 4(3) and 33(3) set out those provisions.

The Department has a number of measures to support engagements with DPOs. The most significant of them is probably dedicated funding to the DPO pillar of our disability participation and consultation network. It is a network of stakeholders within the disability community. There are more than 100 members in the network and we provide grant funding to five organising members, including one dedicated pillar for DPOs. The network stands to help us and other Departments looking to satisfy consultation obligations under the convention, where there is a funded standing resource we can go to. It has been involved in a number of consultations such as the autism innovation strategy last year and the preparation of the first State report for the UN committee. We continue to engage with the DPOs regularly within the Department. We have the disability stakeholder group, which is part of the monitoring structures from the previous strategy. At the most recent iteration of that group, we specifically sought applications from DPOs. Some of the participants in the ads in awareness campaigns are people with disabilities who are members of disabled persons organisations.