Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this very important debate on the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. Ireland signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, CRPD, on 30 March 2007 yet almost ten years later, it still has to ratify one of the most important human rights treaties of the 21st century. In that period, more than 150 other countries have ratified the CRPD.

Like many other Deputies in the House, I have raised this most important issue on many occasions. I accept that the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has spent a political lifetime as a supporter of people with disabilities and it is very appropriate that he introduces this legislation. While I accept that different countries take different approaches to ratification of international conventions, it is most regrettable that the CRPD has not been ratified before now.

I welcome the publication of a roadmap to ratification, which was approved by the previous Government and published in October 2015. This roadmap outlines the legislative changes required to enable Ireland to ratify the convention. Since this Bill was introduced for debate in the House, I have received a good deal of correspondence from constituents regarding its contents and lack of contents. I have received correspondence from advocates like Dermot Hayes and this evening I think of the late Tom King, who was the chairperson of Disabled People of Clare, who campaigned on this particular topic for many years.

In this regard I have some questions for the Minister which he might answer when he is concluding the debate. Will he, please, explain why the term "equality" has been dropped from the Title of the Bill? Why is the word “rights” not included anywhere in the Bill? Article 14(b) of the UN CRDP deals with deprivation of liberty. The absence of specific legislation on the deprivation of liberty as part of this Bill is worrying. When will legislation be developed in conjunction with persons with disabilities on that particular issue?

Will the Minister of State, please, inform the House the level of consultation that has taken place with civil society, and specifically with people with disabilities, since the publication of the Roadmap to Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in October 2015 to inform this Bill?

Also, Article 33(3) of the convention sets out the requirement to involve people with a disability in the monitoring process. Will the Minister of State outline the way people with the lived experience will be resourced and facilitated to play a crucial role in monitoring the implementation of the UN CRPD in Ireland? I ask the Minister of State to address these questions when replying to the debate.

I thank the Minister of State for his support and his involvement in helping to resolve a particular issue I have worked on for many years. It will help solve a housing problem for four people with intellectual disabilities in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. Some years ago, it was identified that these particular individuals who had ageing parents, some of whom have since passed on, would need a housing solution. In fairness to the Brothers of Charity, which has a housing agency called Banner Housing, they joined up with Clare County Council and managed to acquire a unit at Boheroan in Newmarket-on-Fergus. They acquired five units of high tech, modern accommodation, which is great, but once we had the accommodation the next key aim was to get operational funding.

Last year, I arranged a meeting with the chief executive of the Health Service Executive in the mid-west, Bernard Gloster, who engaged with parents and with the Brothers of Charity. Thankfully, a start to that has been made and a commitment given by Bernard Gloster that operational funding will be provided for the units, which will enable two of these persons to take up residence at those houses in Newmarket-on-Fergus. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, for his help and encouragement on that particular issue.

I welcome the introduction of this legislation. It is not before time. I ask that the various amendments the Minister of State outlined in his opening statement will be introduced on Committee Stage would be worked on in a determined fashion to ensure that this important legislation can be enacted as soon as possible. There is little doubt that, when enacted, this legislation will bring about positive change to a large range of legislative measures that will have a positive and real effect on the lives of people with disabilities.

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