Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports the motion to give Dáil approval to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This has the potential to be an important moment for tens of thousands of people in the State living with a disability. Ratification has been a long time coming and Fianna Fáil has have criticised the Government many times for delays, and rightly so.

Ratification alone will not end the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. Ratification coincides with the fifth anniversary of the withdrawal of the mobility allowance for new entrants and we are still awaiting its replacement. For ratification to be meaningful in the longer term and to prompt an end to discrimination, it requires each and every organisation and agency to look at themselves to look at how they treat people with disabilities, and it fundamentally requires the Government to end structural bias around accessing services from the State.

Ratification is a welcome step in the important journey towards equality but we have some way yet to go on that journey. More than one year has passed since the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 was debated in Dáil Éireann. This Bill, broadly welcomed by Fianna Fáil, supports the provision, and its primary aim, to address the remaining legislative barriers to Ireland’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We were very disappointed, however, that the Bill was published incomplete and many significant sections were only to be provided at Committee Stage amendments. It appeared that in order to meet the programme for Government's commitment on ratification it was imperative to publish a Bill, come what may, before the end of 2016. The Bill as published contains six substantive sections and judging by what is being proposed for Committee Stage there are at least another six sections in the offing. To publish what is essentially half a Bill is hardly the best way to honour the ratification of this important United Nations convention. One year on and we are still awaiting Committee Stage of that Bill. The Government is now pledging that the Disability (Miscellaneous) Provisions Bill will be enacted by the end of 2018, along with a new Bill to provide safeguards for older people, persons with a disability and certain categories of people with mental health issues to ensure that they are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty in residential facilities.

We have also seen delays elsewhere in much needed supports. The date 27 February marked the fifth anniversary of the closing of the mobility allowance to new entrants and five years later we are still waiting for a new scheme. In 2013, the Government recommended that preparatory work for a replacement travel subsidy scheme should be progressed by the Minister for Health.

Since then, we have seen the issue delayed time and time again. In 2014, the publication of a health (transport support) Bill was promised for 2015. This was then pushed to 2016. It was then due to undergo pre-legislative scrutiny in the autumn of 2016, but here we are, approaching the middle of 2018 and we are still awaiting its publication. It is shocking to think that five years on from the abolition of the original scheme, when a promise was made to replace it, we are still waiting for the Government to take action. The lack of information about a new scheme is typical of the attitude of the Government, which is more concerned about its own image than progressing essential schemes that have the potential to improve the lives of thousands of people with a disability across this country.

We have also seen a shocking jump in the number of children whose assessment under the Disability Act is overdue. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of children waiting has surged by more than 28%. The Disability Act provides for an assessment of needs of eligible applicants occasioned by their disability. Assessments of need must commence within three months of receipt of a completed application and must be completed within a further three months. To have so many children unable to receive their legal entitlement within the set timeframe is fundamentally wrong and must be tackled as a matter of urgency.

Similarly, access to services leaves much to be desired. Occupational therapy, for example, is critical in supporting people to do the everyday things they want and need to do when faced with illness, injury or disability. Thousands have been waiting more than a year for a first assessment, and the biggest cohort of people waiting are children and teenagers. To have so many young people waiting for so long for an assessment for such essential therapy is just inexcusable. We also need to bear in mind that this is just a waiting list for assessment. Once this hurdle is overcome, there will be further hurdles as people wait for the therapy itself. Waiting such long periods for assessment and then treatment can be detrimental to people's quality of life and treatment outcomes. If ratification is to mean anything in practice, we need to see substantial improvement in such waiting lists.

For our part, Fianna Fáil is committed to creating a more inclusive society and to dismantling barriers across a range of sectors that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in society. We need to ensure that people with disabilities are given equality of opportunity in order that they can participate in society to the best of their abilities. As a republican party, Fianna Fáil has always been committed to fighting discrimination in all its forms. In government, we brought forward policies and legislation to advance the rights of people with a disability. We are proud of the role we have played in moving disability policy from a model that was based on management, charity, pity and, in some cases, neglect, towards a social care model that recognises that people with disabilities are full and equal citizens entitled to not only dignity and respect, but also independence, choice and control over their own lives. Ratification of the United Nations convention continues this journey but there is a distance to be travelled yet.

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