Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Taoiseach about proposed legislation on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, because a number of people have raised this issue numerous times since I have been here. From looking at the statistics it is almost a national embarrassment. A total of 156 countries have ratified the convention. Ireland signed the convention in 2006 but it is the only country in the EU not to have ratified it.

People are asking, as are many Deputies, why Ireland has not ratified it. I know this is being dealt with on Committee Stage under the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill but surely the convention can be ratified. From my experience here, I have learned that democracy works extremely slowly. Surely we have to give the 300,000 people with disabilities who are waiting for the convention to be ratified an answer before the summer recess.

See this speech in context