Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It has taken far too long to reach this point. I have a clear recollection of the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, on announcing that he would be joining the new Government saying that he had a commitment from Deputy Frances Fitzgerald and the Government that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, would be ratified within six months. It is now two years since that election, two additional unnecessary years where Ireland continued to not be a society of equals for people with disabilities.

Of course, this unfair treatment of disabled people is not unique to Ireland but is, rather, a deep-rooted problem on a global scale. Twelve years ago, the United Nations agreed on global action in the form of the UNCRPD. Ireland took a leadership position when it signed the convention on the earliest possible date in 2007 but the State has regressed in the intervening years. The recession and the austerity measures introduced since the signing of the convention have been especially and disproportionately severe in their impact on people with disabilities and their families. This was a very short-sighted approach, as well as being completely unjust. Long-term problems relating to a deterioration in conditions and a reduction in the quality of life of people with disabilities are simply being stored up for the future. Ultimately, these problems will impact negatively on individual lives and on public spending in the future, especially in circumstances where disabled children and young people are affected. From the perspective of both basic fairness and financial considerations, it makes more sense to invest in services now rather than dealing with more complex and costly conditions down the road.

The 13% of Irish people who have disabilities and-or mental health difficulties are at significantly greater risk than non-disabled people of experiencing poverty, social exclusion, unemployment and a lack of opportunity in the context of education, training and retraining. It is inexcusable that key legislation to address these issues has been delayed and sidelined for so long. That speaks volumes for this Government’s attitude to the most marginalised in Irish society.

Despite ratification, I am concerned that a number of key policy issues are being sidestepped. The Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway has highlighted a number of these issues. First, there are a number of declarations and reservations being made as part of this process. It is hugely disappointing that people with disabilities in Ireland will not have the full protection of Article 12 on legal capacity in decision-making, Article 14 on the deprivation of liberty and Article 27 on employment. Ideally, these reservations would not be necessary but if they are to be included, it is incumbent on the Minister of State to ensure that they are not unduly onerous. Second, the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which is earmarked as necessary for the ratification of the UNCRPD, has still not progressed through Committee Stage in the Dáil. It was last debated over a year ago. This Bill will see important changes to Ireland’s laws, including on voting, membership of juries and issues relating to the deprivation of liberty. Third, Article 33 of the convention requires that people with disabilities are involved in the monitoring processes for the implementation of the convention. While the Government has identified IHREC and the National Disability Authority in the roadmap to ratification and the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 as part of the monitoring mechanism for the convention, it has not outlined how people with disabilities will be involved in this process.

The ratification of the convention is, in reality, only the beginning of the process. The convention maps out a very wide-ranging set of requirements along with measurable implementation mechanisms. The aim of these is to improve the lives of people with disabilities across the whole of society, including in the context of economic life, social life, political involvement, independent living in the community, transport, housing and many other policy areas. These plans were developed in consultation with the global movement of people with disabilities, including Irish representatives. I ask the Minister of State to produce a detailed, grounded plan for the establishment of the promised advisory committee of disabled people to support the IHREC in monitoring the convention. This committee must be established, resourced and given training and other supports. It is imperative that this committee be representative of all persons with a disability and comprised of a majority of disabled people as called for by Inclusion Ireland. In addition, the Minister for Health must publish a timetable for all key legislative reform that is included in the roadmap to ratification with specific deadlines for all outstanding matters. There can be no more slippage in terms of timeframes.

Inclusion Ireland has called for a commitment from Government that all information relating to and consultations pertaining to the convention are produced in accessible and easy-to-read format. It has also asked that advice from the Attorney Genera be sought and published into the conflict between private property rights and reasonable accommodation. It further calls on the Government to commit to establishing the decision support service in 2018. Inclusion Ireland is also seeking an explanation - and, if necessary, an apology - for the 11-year delay in the ratification of the convention. We have not had that explanation or apology to date. Finally, adequate consultation on deprivation of liberty safeguards should take place and a continued commitment to non-institutionalised models of living and community inclusion should be made.

While the convention is aspirational, it can act as a roadmap for some very practical steps the Minister of State could take that would have a real impact on the lives of people with disabilities in the short term. The Social Democrats have previously called on the Minister of State to take a number of key actions. First, he should ensure that personal assistants and other individualised social care services are restored and improved so that the policy of independent living can be honoured. Second, he must remove the barriers to disabled people entering or remaining within the paid work force such as inadequate educational provision, continuing benefit traps as well as discriminatory access rules and attitudes. Third, he must recognise the extra costs of living for disabled people and help them to stay out of poverty through a specific cost of living disability payment, as has been promised but not delivered. These are actions to which the Minister of State could commit now which would make a real impact on the lives of people with disabilities and give some real practical weight to the ratification of the convention.

In the roadmap to ratification report from the Department of Justice and Equality in 2015, an explicit commitment was given to the Irish State signing the optional protocol that would allow for individual complaints to be submitted directly to the UNCRPD committee by individuals and groups of individuals, or by a third party on behalf of individuals and groups of individuals, alleging that their rights have been violated under the UNCRPD. The report states that we "intend to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the same time as the Convention itself is being ratified". I ask the Minister of State to provide an assurance that this protocol will be signed as part of the ratification process to ensure maximum protection for people with disabilities.

I pay tribute to all of those individuals and organisations that have been campaigning in this area for many years and seeking the ratification of the convention. I particularly want to note the very significant contribution of Senator John Dolan.

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