Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Gino Kenny for raising this very important issue.

Ireland signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. Since then, successive Governments have emphasised Ireland's strong commitment to proceed to ratification as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to ensure all necessary legislative and administrative requirements under the convention are met.

11 o’clock

The Government remains committed to the ratification of the convention. It is essential for the State to be in a position to meet the obligations it assumes under the terms of an international agreement from the moment of its entry into force for Ireland. Before the State can ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, enactment of new legislation and amendment of existing legislation is required to ensure obligations will be met upon its entry into force for Ireland. It would make no sense to ratify the convention before we have amended domestic legislation that contradicts it. Such an approach would do nothing to ensure compliance or protect the people for whose benefit the convention exists. Contrary to what the Deputy has suggested, there are no policy objections to the ratification of the convention. In October 2015, the previous Government published a roadmap that sets out the legislative measures needed to meet the various requirements, along with the declarations and reservations to be entered by Ireland on ratification.

I would like to outline the reasons for some of the delays. Considerable progress has been made to overcome the remaining legislative barriers to Ireland's ratification of the convention. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, which was signed into law on 30 December 2015, is a comprehensive reform of the law on decision-making capacity. The Committee Stage debate on the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015 was completed in the Dáil on 7 December last. When this Bill is enacted, it will reform section 5 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 to facilitate the full participation in family life of people with intellectual disabilities and the full expression of their human rights. It is crucial that we achieve the necessary balance between expressing those rights and ensuring there are appropriate protections.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Work is under way on drawing up the equality and disability (miscellaneous provisions) Bill to progress miscellaneous legislative amendments that are necessary to proceed to ratification. The Bill will address issues such as the convention's requirements regarding reasonable accommodation and deprivation of liberty. The general scheme of the equality and disability (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is available on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality. The Bill is at the final stages of drafting. I expect it to be published very shortly to facilitate the ratification of the convention as early as possible.

See this speech in context