Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I will stay with the theme of disability. Probably 1,000 people outside the House are extremely angry regarding the failure of the Government to honour the promise made in the programme for Government. As the Minister knows, there have been several protests in recent months demanding that the Government stick to its promise. It is too late to stick to its promise to ratify the UN convention but it should deliver belatedly on it. What is the delay? The Minister keeps saying we need the legislation but we do not. Can the Minister confirm that? There is nothing whatsoever to stop the Government from ratifying now. The legislation can follow afterwards. Ratification would really be a great relief to the people outside, who do not want to be there. Many of them were saying how difficult it was to get here because of the transport difficulties. They also said they will continue to come back, however, if the Government does not indicate it will ratify the convention. Why does the Minister not just save them the hardship and ratify now, after which we can deal with the legislation?

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