Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. I want to raise the promised legislation for people living with intellectual disabilities. Under the previous Government these became the new dispossessed. We cannot allow that to become permanent. Mothers in north Kildare have contacted me about their children with intellectual disabilities, the lack of respite services and unacceptable delays in vital health services. The Government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities two year ago. Since then, that signature has been moot and mute. The programme for Government promises to ratify the optional protocol, which would mean that parents with children with intellectual disabilities would not have to go to war every day with the State. It would allow them to vindicate their children's rights. When will the Government ratify the optional protocol?

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