Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This Bill introduces a number of welcome provisions to existing legislation. Sinn Féin welcomes in particular the move to end discrimination with regard to rent supplement and the restrictions placed on interpreting of section 37(1) of the Employment Equality Act 1998. As for the amendment of section 37 of the Act of 1998, Sinn Féin welcomes the attempt to ensure the language of the Bill establishes that what happens in somebody's private life cannot be used by religious-run workplaces to exploit any exemption to discrimination law in regard to undermining the ethos of that workplace. I listened to a number of previous speakers who outlined examples of the impact of this ongoing injustice, and I welcome this legislation to bring an end to it. On foot of the passing of the marriage referendum, a number of matters are of powerful importance to the LGBT community. Hopefully, it will remove homophobia from the classroom and workplace and will prevent the chilling effect mentioned by the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, in introducing this debate.

In addition, as the Minister of State is aware, the work for equality continues for the LGBT community and organisations such as GLEN must be resourced. It is necessary to embolden and embed the progress made and it is necessary to be able to support in the schools young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual. Members must ensure there is no toleration for prejudice and there is no doubt but that a significant minority of people here still hold a degree of prejudice towards the LGBT community. Consequently, the work continues and organisations that work for LGBT equality must be provided with resources. This is an issue I will raise with the Minister of State in greater detail at a separate time. However, the work of equality continues and great progress has been made. I commend the Minister of State on this Bill and commend the Government on the marriage equality referendum. I also commend the Yes Equality campaign on the campaigning on the ground but while significant progress has been made, which must be welcomed, there is more to be done.

On the question of rent supplement, I welcome the fact that the Minister of State has taken the opportunity afforded by this miscellaneous Bill to deal with this important issue. One cannot tolerate what is happening across the State, whereby landlords are refusing tenants who must rely on rent supplement. That is not a republic or a state that has solidarity for all people. Members cannot tolerate it. Again, I welcome the provision in respect of discrimination in the advertising of jobs and it is right and welcome that the individual concerned should be able to make the complaint, rather than the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC. As for the retirement age issues, while Sinn Féin also welcomes the amendments, although there may be some challenges in that some employers may be reluctant to offer fixed-term contracts. Nevertheless, Sinn Féin supports it because it is the right thing to do and must be addressed,.

This brings me to a huge issue because when one speaks of equality, this subject goes to the core . Most parliamentarians in these Houses regard themselves as republicans and adhere to the principles of equality. This means the issue of equality for disabled citizens must be addressed. While I rightly give credit to the Government on a range of issues, particularly LGBT equality, and in respect of the Minister of State's own campaigning on the issue of Travellers' rights equality, more must be done on disability rights. At present, 600,000 people with a disability live in this State. In the Six Counties, the rights of persons with disabilities have been recognised since 2008 on foot of ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, a man in Dundalk is not treated in the same equitable fashion as his sister in Newry, as she has the full protection of the convention. While there are some difficulties with the administration of the aforementioned convention, an oversight body is working actively with Members' colleagues in the Six Counties on ways to improve its application. In the Six Counties, the convention operates, rights are clear and the task is to apply those rights and hold to task employers and State agencies for failing to uphold clear enumerated obligations.

By contrast, citizens in this State with disabilities who reside in this jurisdiction live in an uncertain situation. The most they can do to clarify their particular situation is to consult the roadmap to ratification of the convention issued by the Minister of State's Department. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is responsible for this area but as the Minister of State is aware, a number of Bills are before the House at present that seek to bring the Irish Legislature into accordance with the requirements of the convention. It is the Minister's argument that such legislative activity is necessary lest domestic legislation conflicts with the rights provided post-ratification. If one consults that roadmap, with what is a person with disability confronted? A small selection of actions illustrates the uncertainty. The roadmap declares it is intended to amend the Companies Act 2014 by the end of this year and it is expected that the mental health Bill will be published in 2016.

In relation to Article 27(a), in respect of which a reservationis to be put forward, no specific date is given nor is the nature of that reservation. In relation to Articles 33(2) and 33(3) further

consultations are to take place but, again, with no specific date in that regard. Notwithstanding the fact that this Government in its current configuration may not be in place after the upcoming election, thus rendering these promises meaningless, the roadmap is disheartening. It is the language of intentions, consultations and reservations. It is the language of ambiguity, of expectations and of promises. In short, it provides no concrete support to the hopes of people with disabilities to be treated as equal citizens in this State. Given the record of this Government in fulfilling its promises to the Irish people in relation to this matter, this is depressing.

As the Minister of State knows, the Good Friday Agreement officially acknowledged that the constitutional and other legal arrangements of the day were not sufficiently adequate to protect all human rights of the Irish people in both jurisdictions. Although the Government has said it agrees with what the convention outlines, it has not, during its almost five years in power, agreed to do what is outlined therein. Similarly, the previous Government negated to tackle the issue and honour its international obligations. I recognise that positive work has been done in regard to certain sectors of our citizenship but the rights of people with disabilities are not a priority for this Government nor were they a priority of the previous Government. In practice, the rights of people with disabilities must still be fought for given the uncertainty generated by non-ratification of the convention. Case law has outlined obligations that may arise by virtue of the EU ratification of the convention but, unfortunately, these obligations will not be clear until ratification is complete. In the meantime it may take a disabled citizen to embark on a personal action through the court system to claim those rights with which the Government has already said it agrees. This means the detail and extent of rights applicable to persons with disabilities is under judicial control, subject to judicial discretion and reliant on the advocacy of differing counsel. This may be fine for legal analysts and the lawyering profession but it is not great for the wider Irish citizenship. What is needed is a comprehensive outline of the rights available to persons with disabilities. Citizens need to know and clearly understand their rights and not have to guess, or take a chance in a court action, to find out what they are. They should not need specialised legal knowledge and expertise to interpret the basic meaning of provisions.

I will condense my final points at this stage as I am conscious Deputy Clare Daly is waiting to make a contribution. We will commemorate the 100th anniversary of 1916 next year. Based on the manner in which we implement our responsibilities in this area, were Sean Mac Diarmada, a man with disabilities, alive today he would not be treated as equally on this island as were his cousins in Fermanagh. We need to do more on disability rights. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed. The provisions provided for in this legislation are positive and I support and commend them.

See this speech in context