Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Disability Federation of Ireland described the Attorney General's report as deeply discouraging. Nowhere in his report did the Attorney General refer to the State's obligation to people with disabilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, or Ireland's responsibility as a signatory to this international human rights convention. Inclusion Ireland has had to remind the Attorney General and the Government that Article 21 of the UNCRPD is clear on the right to information for disabled people. Does the Taoiseach accept that the State is now in serious breach of this part of the convention? Fintan Butler, who worked for a number of years in the Office of the Ombudsman, wrote a thoughtful response to the report. He concluded that one might reasonably expect the Attorney General, as the guardian of the public interest, to be concerned with finding a fairer way forward. It is Mr. Butler's view that on the evidence in the report, the Attorney General appears to be simply acting as another partisan lawyer. He appears blind to the State's international legal obligations to its citizens. The Disabled Federation of Ireland has sought assurances that the UNCRPD will guide and be the foundation of the review being carried out by the Department of Health and the Department of Social Protection and any future responses to this issue. Will the Taoiseach provide assurances in that regard?

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