Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to reiterate my thanks to the Chair of the committee, Deputy Michael Moynihan, vice Chair, Deputy Tully, and the extended committee for all the work they have done.

As has been said, the right to independent living is at the core of so much of what the UNCRPD is about. It represents no less than what people with disabilities in this country are entitled to and expect from Irish society. As I outlined, a huge amount of work is ongoing across government to ensure that people with disabilities are facilitated in a real and meaningful way to live independent lives. They have a right to do that in an equal manner to their friends and families who do not have a disability. I am working to realise that right further. That cross-government work is co-ordinated through our national disability strategies. It stretches across a programme of legislative reform, most importantly through the work that is under way to bring the commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act to fruition.

I also welcome the announcement from the Minister, Deputy Foley, and Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, about transition planning in secondary schools. A pilot is being put in place, which is really important. It is hard to believe that in 2022, we are now talking about transition planning, which is where the young person has the right to choose, no different to his or her peers, how he or she would like to engage or participate in his or her next level of education. It is really welcome that we are now involving young people who have a disability in the choice. They have the will and preference to ensure they can choose where they would like to have their third-level education, how they would like to see it and whether they wish to participate in day services and have their voices heard. I welcome the announcement this evening. It is part of a comprehensive employment piece so that we can skill people up. That is so important.

This stretches across a programme of work to improve continuously the delivery of our disability services. This work will improve services in an explicitly rights-based manner and build upon progress to date. Over the coming period, we will see more work completed in recalibrating support bands in the Department of Social Protection. We will see the implementation of a housing strategy for disabled people and the expanding accessibility of our public transport system.

I totally agree with what Deputy Ellis said about universal design, about which there is such a lack of knowledge. When we talk about universal design, everybody thinks we are just talking about housing. It is our built environment as well. So many planners do not understand what UDA+ or UDA++ is or about the different size of wheelchairs. Universal design is not all about a person in a wheelchair. It can be a person who is visually impaired or who is deaf. It can be the lady who got her hip done recently and who finds it hard to go from one footpath to another or a tactile pad for a blind person that is not in the right space. While I welcome all the funding that is coming from the various Departments with regard to active travel, we need to ensure that universal design means the existing built environment is incorporated properly into the new building that is going on, whether that is a new footpath, bus stand or bus shelter.

There is that expectation if someone is visually impaired they do not realise if they are going off the new paths or the old paths. It has to be universally incorporated throughout. Some of that does not happen but it needs to happen in a big way.

I also know that there is much work still to do but I cannot lose sight of the progress and momentum to date. I want to build on that momentum and push the progress. I thank my colleagues in the various Departments where I do push the concept of universal design, whether it be in respect of housing, the local authorities or transport. They are listening. They participate in the national disability inclusion strategy, NDIS. They understand. With the assistance of the committee, that awareness and expectation has been brought to a new level. That is what UNCRPD is about, ensuring the person is at the centre no matter what Department or state agency is involved. There is a lot of work yet to be done in creating that awareness and in ensuring it spills all the way down. There has a be a bottom-up and top-down approach to ensure that the person continues to be at the centre.

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