Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The removal of an important part of what we signed up to - maximum communication with people with disabilities - compounds the insult to people with disabilities. I remind the House that Article 33 of the UN convention enshrines the right of people with disabilities to participate in the decision-making process entirely separately from the organisations that represent them. Sections of great importance have been omitted from the Bill and will not be discussed until Committee Stage, with all that entails in terms of restricting people's rights. It is worth noting in this context that the word "equality" has been left out of the name of this Bill. I have no idea how the Minister of State could stand over the omission of the word "equality" from a Bill of this nature. Similarly, we do not know what reservations or derogations the Government intends to seek. That is extremely important, but it has been completely left out.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is being partly given an independent monitoring role. It is being given a general monitoring role, but not a specific role in monitoring the implementation of this legislation. I wonder if we have learned anything from the debacle that followed the publication of the wonderful A Vision for Change document in 2006. We are still awaiting the promised review of A Vision for Change, which ran out in January 2016. It was a very positive document that set out just about every possible action that should be taken. The people who came forward to work with the Government of the day were very sceptical because it is easy to produce a good document. An essential part of A Vision for Change was the independent monitoring mechanism that sat for two periods of three years. Those involved did a very good job. Unfortunately, they had to highlight that the progress being made was slow, tardy and insufficient. Rather than praising and cherishing the independent monitoring body and giving it more resources, we abolished it. We learned nothing. Over a year has passed since A Vision for Change ran out and we are still waiting on the independent review. If we are serious about monitoring this legislation after it has been passed, it is absolutely vital for us to give the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission the fullest possible role in the independent monitoring mechanism that is being provided for in this Bill. Concern has been expressed about the decision to make the Department of Justice and Equality the focal point in this context. Clearly, responsibility in this area should not lie in that Department. I am open to suggestions on where it should lie. It has been proposed that it should lie at the heart of the Government in the Department of the Taoiseach. A similar approach has been taken in the case of the Irish language, although I will not comment on how helpful or efficient that has been. It was theoretically a very good idea. We should be going in a similar direction in this case.

I have mentioned the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015, which was introduced with great fanfare.

It remains substantially unimplemented, so will the Minister of State comment on it?

Very specific questions have been asked by civil society but I will not read all of them into the record. Practically every Deputy has read them, which is testimony to the work on the ground of the various groups that are so concerned about this. They have not gone on a party political basis but have done their best to educate each and every Deputy in the Chamber. The Deputies have the questions that have not been answered. I was watching the Minister of State's reaction intently when the questions were put about what structured communication had taken place, as civil society feels there has not been a structured approach. The Minister of State shook his head vehemently and I presume he is arguing there has been such a structured approach. I accept his bona fides but if the organisations on the ground tell each of us that it has not happened, there is a problem somewhere with the understanding of what "communication" means.

There are other questions that we were specifically asked to read out. I will not read all of them but I will refer to them. The first, as I noted, related to a formal structured consultation process, which the groups argue has not taken place. The groups have asked specifically about what reservations or derogations will be sought and the absence of specific legislation relating to the deprivation of liberty. I have mentioned some of these issues and the groups put them in a question format. All of those questions should be answered in written form immediately and before this Bill progresses. These are just practical questions and we must acknowledge work on the ground from people who are challenged every day not just by a disability but by the utter failure of all of us to provide a society that allows them to participate. We are all responsible for that, although the Government should have the majority of this responsibility. Similarly, with the recent McCabe issue, specific practical questions were asked that were not answered. It helps people to come on board if they see questions being answered when they are asked. I ask that this be done immediately. It must be important to the groups if they have asked every Deputy to read these questions in the Dáil.

I hope the Minister of State will have listened to all of us and taken on board the serious concerns we have all expressed. Nobody has played politics with this. I hope the Government will consider ratifying the convention immediately if we are truly sincere about what we want. There is no legal obstacle to ratifying it so let us do it. We can then have a true roadmap for the implementation of the necessary legislation that will allow us to go proudly before a United Nations committee and say that not only have we signed and ratified it but we have done our bit with legislation.

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