Dr. Iris Elliott:

As commission member Mr. Harris has said, this is our opportunity to end Victorian legislation on the system of wardship. One thing the commission would like to draw the committee's attention to is the opportunity to include a sunset clause on section 9 of the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Act 1961 to ensure that the ending of wardship is entirely copper fastened and that there is no way back by any other route into a wardship system.

I was mindful yesterday that a number of committee members raised the concern that delay on this legislation may then delay ratification of the optional protocol, and that this is seen as an important milestone in that journey. I want to use this opportunity to welcome the continued focus on the optional protocol for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, and to reiterate the commission's long-standing position that we are calling for the State to issue a timeline and a detailed map for how we are going to get the optional protocol ratified.

I was also mindful yesterday that there was quite a lot of comment on the high percentage of disability services that are provided through the community and voluntary sector. Where those services are provided through public bodies obviously the public sector and equality and human rights duty comes into play in ensuring that those services adhere to equality and human rights standards. As the commission has repeatedly said, procurement processes also need to ensure that human rights and equality standards are adhered to by providers of disability services by the community and voluntary sector.

We also heard a lot of concerns raised about a lack of awareness or understanding of the law and the operation of that law by service providers. There is also a lack of awareness among disabled persons themselves around the legislation, that the legislation is coming along and, when it is in place, how they will know about it. I note that they CRPD has an article on awareness raising. As commission member Mr. Harris has said there are obligations on the State under article 4 to ensure that people with disabilities and their family members are aware of their rights.

We do not want to see a delay in the commencement of the 2015 Act or any delay the progress of this Bill. We fully appreciate that this is going to take a lot of intensive work by this committee and by the Oireachtas. I commend the Oireachtas on engaging with the public sector duty that is on the Oireachtas, and the inclusive practices that we have the through the commission's engagement with a number of Oireachtas committees, namely this committee, the Committee on Disability Matters and the Sub-Committee on Mental Health. We would really encourage the Oireachtas committees and the Oireachtas system to continue to consider how those inclusive practices can be built on, particularly when we are entering a period where there are quite a lot of calls on people with disabilities and their representative organisations to participate in parliamentary processes. I thank the committee.