Dáil debates

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Motion

 

5:15 pm

Photo of Michael HartyMichael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Mattie McGrath. I welcome the process of starting full ratification - I emphasise the word "starting" - and although it is behind time, it is nevertheless welcome. This is an important milestone for those advocating for the rights as outlined in the convention but we still have some distance to go before we have full ratification. The delay of 12 years has been distressing and I hope the process is finally coming to an end for those people with disabilities. I note the Government committed to ratifying the convention by the end of 2016 but here we are in March 2018 starting the process. The Minister of State is nevertheless to be commended for the efforts put in.

Legislation is required for complete ratification and the Government will enter a number of declarations and reservations to give time and space to allow the legislation to be enacted. It is vital that the necessary pieces of legislation are enacted and commenced as rapidly as possible. The Government will enter three declarations and reservations. One concerns Article 12, relating to legal capacity and decision-making rights; another relates to Article 14, covering liberty and the deprivation of liberty; and the third concerns Article 27, dealing with employment. A number of pieces of legislation need to be enacted, with the first being the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which is to be enacted by the end of 2018. I hope that deadline will be met.

Second, the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 needs to be fully commenced and I urge the Minister of State to do so as rapidly as possible. The system of wardship needs to be abolished to ensure compliance with this Act. Third, the decision support service, based in the Mental Health Commission, needs to be operational as soon as possible. While the service is currently being developed and it has been allocated a budget of €3 million, the Minister of State has not outlined any timeline for its commencement.

The purpose of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to promote, protect and ensure equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and respect for human dignity. Ratification will mean nothing if people with disabilities are not given practical solutions to their problems. People with disabilities live in poverty and a whole-of-Government approach is required to address their problems. They are deprived of equal opportunity in regard to education and employment. Ratification without recognition of all these challenges and addressing these challenges will not improve the plight of persons with disabilities. Rather, a cross-departmental approach to health, housing, independent living, personal assistants, transport, education, social protection, is required to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities are upheld.

While ratification of this convention and legislation are necessary, funding and a fundamental change in the culture and attitude towards people with disabilities are also required. We need to disability-proof our services. If we do this, our services will be suitable for every member of society, not only those with disabilities. I urge the Minister of State to progress the necessary legislation as soon as possible. The Joint Committees on Health, Education and Skills and Employment Affairs and Social Protection propose to come together to develop a strategy to help people with disabilities transition from education to employment. This is very important because often there is a huge gap between the time when people leave education and transition to employment. If these three committees can devise a strategy to ensure a smooth transition of people with disabilities from education to employment it will be very important. I hope that the Minister of State will pay attention to the findings of those committees.

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