Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is an important day on which the Deputy raises these disability issues. I thank him for raising them and I would be interested in seeing a copy of that survey if he wants to pass it on to my office later on.

When I was elected Taoiseach three years or so ago, one of the things I said we would do on the first day I was elected was ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It had not been ratified for decades by previous governments and there was always an excuse as to why it could not be done. I said it had to be done and, working with Finian McGrath, we got it done. I am glad we got it done.

It was always our intention to sign the optional protocol as well and it still is but we have to do it at the right time, when we are ready, and make sure we do it in a way that is meaningful. Many countries ratify conventions and it stops there. We do it the other way around in Ireland. We make sure we can meet the standards of the convention before we sign, which we did when it came to that convention. The same will apply when it comes to signing the optional protocol.

It is right to acknowledge that much progress has been made in recent years, such as increases in the disability allowance and changes to make it easier for people with disabilities to take part in the workplace, particularly around keeping the free travel pass and the medical card if they take up work and if they can. Remote working will be a real opportunity for people with disabilities to get into the workforce who could not before. There has been a huge increase in resources for special education. Not that long ago, there were almost no special needs assistants. Now we have 15,000, 16,000 or 17,000, I think. These are huge numbers and are much needed. It has really transformed education for people with special needs. The same applies to special classes in schools. There are hundreds where there used to be a handful.

In terms of spend, which the Deputy mentioned, the spend across the Departments of Social Protection, Education and Health runs to many billions of euro. I think it may be as much as €5 billion a year. That is many multiples of what we spend helping the FAI or greyhounds and rightly so because people with disabilities in this country are numerous, important and much more valuable than those other things, important as they are.

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