Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. As we speak, people protest at the gates calling on the Government to ratify and implement the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. The Government signed the convention five years ago but despite commitments made, it has still not ratified the optional protocol. This protocol is crucial for people with disabilities to vindicate their rights as full and equal citizens and to hold the State to account when they are denied the services and supports they need and to seek redress when they are failed. Far too often, people with disabilities, their families and, indeed, their carers must fight the State for everything and it should not be that way. People should not have to stand with placards on Kildare Street. Can the Taoiseach tell our citizens with disabilities when his Government will at last honour its commitment and ratified the optional protocol?

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