Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on this motion, and I want to thank the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Disability Matters for its report on aligning disability services with the UNCRPD. First, I want to commend the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte for her comments in her statement this evening, specifically on the call for holding Ministers to account but, more importantly, how that process allows the Minister to hold officials to account. That is a significant role of the Opposition, finding gaps and inefficiencies and pointing them out loudly, especially on matters that have societal significance. I also want to commend the point that was made about this being a Thursday slot and not a Tuesday or Wednesday slot, and I look forward to it being included in statements on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

I have many concerns about disabled people's rights in this country, people who are disabled not biologically or by virtue of their impairment but by the surrounding society that refuses to support them. For those who are watching at home, the background to this is that Ireland signed the UNCRPD in 2007 and ratified it in March 2018. This means, in principle, that Ireland is committed to promoting and protecting the full employment of all human rights by people with disabilities. However, we have yet to ratify the optional protocol.

I was a proud member of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters, and at its first meeting, the absurdity of the significant delay with ratification of the optional protocol was discussed at length. It is important, on an international level, that we give people who feel that their rights have been violated under the UNCRPD a recourse outside of the country. That is all that the optional protocol does. There is a symbolic significance in the delay in ratification, and people with disabilities are incredibly upset that they have had to face such delays historically and at present. In their eyes, they feel that it is a direct violation of their rights, and instead seems like the delay is only to ensure that the Government gets its ducks in a row. However, that process is taking far too long, and unfortunately has further embedded the message that people with disabilities are just not prioritised by this Government and, importantly, previous Governments too, as in all those before the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte's time.

According to the NDA and the Disability Stakeholder Group, Government Departments are failing to make sufficient progress to meet the minimum requirements for disabled Irish citizens as set out by the UNCRPD. I support the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters to ensure that there is sufficient funding for the efficient operation of access to the complaints and scrutiny of the UN committee.

Article 9 of the UNCRPD focuses on accessibility and puts an onus on signatories to provide equal access to transportation for people living with a disability, in order to support them equally in daily life, for example, to access further education, gain employment, be involved in their communities, or even just to participate in social activities and hobbies, and have that social aspect to their lives. Notwithstanding the fact that the Disability Act 2005 requires all public bodies to ensure that access to all public areas is accessible for people with disabilities, that is some 17 years ago, and the conversation has not moved on. When I iterate in this House that there are years of hurt there for people with disabilities, it is due to the fact that we have Acts that have not been implemented. This adds to the notion that these important Acts sit on shelves gathering dust.

I met with a delegation from the Clare Leader Forum in my office this week, including chairperson Padraic Hayes, Dermot Hayes, Noelle Keane and Martin Hayes. We discussed a range of issues. Central to their concerns were both the UNCRPD and the Green Paper on disability payments. There are 27,213 people with a disability in Clare, and they are denied basic rights and services every day. This includes everything from public transport with insufficient wheelchair spaces, to inability to access the employment market, and failures even now to meet universal design standards.

The Minister of State in her last report to the UN reported that stakeholder consultation had flagged all of these issues and more. An update from the Government on what is being done to tackle these issues would be welcomed by all. There is a structural abuse against people with disabilities by the State. It has gone on for far too long. The lack of access to transport is one of the key barriers preventing the realisation of these fundamental rights and can lead to the further economic, social and personal isolation of people living with a disability. It is a major barrier to the freedom of movement of people with disabilities. This is evident in rural County Clare, for example, where access to bus shelters is a massive issue. The lack of accessible local buses is also an issue. The single-deck bus that is accessible has space for only one wheelchair user.

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