Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá áthas orm go bhfuilim ag labhairt mar gheall ar an tairiscint seo. Tá timpeall 23% den daonra faoi mhíchumas de sórt éigin agus a lán acu ag fáil cuidiú ó chúramóirí. One of the great failings of this Government and those that preceded it has been the disparity between what they say and what they do. Disability services in this State are dysfunctional. People with disabilities are suffering because of their inability to properly access services or specialised therapies, and there is a lack of expertise across sections of the disability services. What are needed are more streamlined and connected services and early interventions across the health services for people with disabilities. Disability services need to be urgently reformed and there needs to be sustainable funding for them.

The Government needs to ratify the optional protocol to the UNCRPD. This has been an ongoing issue since the convention was first signed in 2007 and ratified in 2018. The protocol remains to be ratified here. It is important that it be ratified because this would strengthen the convention by establishing an individual complaints mechanism for those with disabilities when their rights under the convention have been denied. Under the protocol, individuals can bring complaints to the UN after all domestic remedies have been exhausted. Ireland has a terrible employment record regarding people with disabilities and there are serious deficiencies in the education sector regarding those with disabilities. The State needs to progress their rights meaningfully. Not ratifying the protocol, which the Government promised it would ratify in its programme for Government, means those with disabilities have no proper mechanism to hold the State to account. Many feel that they are being treated as second-class citizens.

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