Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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82. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on her Department’s work on the implementation of the UNCRPD. [32481/25]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, in 2018. Since ratification, Ireland's approach has been to ensure cumulative advancements over time. The programme for Government commits to delivering a new national disability strategy that will provide an overarching framework for advancing the State’s obligations under the UNCRPD. In advance of the strategy, work continues unabated across government to advance implementation, with achievements including: increases in funding for disability services, including €3.2 billion in budget 2025 for HSE disability services; the ratification of the optional protocol to the UNCRPD; the publication of the Action Plan for Disability Services 2024-2026; publication of the autism innovation strategy; the commencement in 2023 of the Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015, as amended, which establishes a modern legal framework to support decision-making by adults who may have difficulty making decisions without help; the introduction of key programmes like the work and access scheme to support disabled people in accessing employment; and the publication of the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027.

The publication of the next national disability strategy will be the next milestone in Ireland's UNCRPD journey. That provides a whole-of-government framework for the advancement of rights. It will be ambitious. It will take action across a range of thematic pillars taken collectively that will capture the issues that most affect disabled people in their day-to-day lives, including education, employment, independent living, health and transport. It is codesigned with disabled people and their representative organisations. The strategy will provide a framework for sustaining and building on this progress and ensuring that disabled people are empowered to live full lives of their own choosing

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Department's leadership in advancing the national disability strategy. The shift towards to a whole-of-government approach embedding the UNCRPD into policy across Departments is critical to making rights real for people with disabilities. The move of disability policy from the Department of Health to the Minister of State's Department was a significant step towards a right-based model and the upcoming strategy is a real opportunity to build on that momentum. However, the key to this success will not just be policy alignment but real implementation and measurable outcomes. Many individuals and disability organisations are anxious to see concrete timelines. Thankfully, the Minister of State was able to provide me with those. The implementation of the UNCRPD is to be monitored by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Can the Minister of State assure me that this is going to happen?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will answer the Deputy's last question first. Housing and disability are absolute priority for the Government y. We all know knocking on the doors in the general election campaign the importance of disability right across the sector. Last week, I attended the United Nations disability conference in New York. The Irish delegation travelled with leading disability groups from Ireland who have directly fed into this national disability strategy. Once this strategy is published - and the timeline for that will be before the summer recess - this will be a living document. That is not the end of it. We will constantly be adapting and making sure that we are getting our policy right by listening to those with the lived experience. It is not just about publishing a strategy, as the Deputy said; it is about implementing it. There needs to be an action plan. A cross-government implementation team will be put in place. This will not just included myself and the Minister in the Department of disability. Every single Department and every Cabinet Minister will play their role, while making sure that we achieve that step change to ensure people with disabilities live independent lives.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the update on the Department's engagement with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The UNCRPD is not just about legal commitments; it is also about meaningful lived change for people with disabilities throughout the country. The first report in 2021 was an important step but real transparency and accountability come from continuous engagement with the committee and stakeholders here at home. Organisations like the IHREC and the disabled persons' organisations, DPOs, have a critical role in this. Can the Minister of State clarify whether the Department has received feedback on recommendations from the UN committee following the 2021 submission? When is the next periodic report due to be submitted? It would be helpful to know about what consultations will take place to ensure that people with disabilities are meaningfully involved in shaping that report.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There has been, and there will continue to be, robust consultation with all the key stakeholders, disability groups and DPOs. To give the Deputy an example of our track record on that, for this disability strategy we had extensive public consultation, which concluded last year. That included 34 focus groups and almost 500 responses to a national questionnaire. We had town hall events in Dublin, Cork, Galway and online feeding into this disability strategy. The consultation has continued on an alternative basis with key stakeholder groups, including DPOs and disability service providers, as well as across government. This engagement has supported the development of an ambitious strategy that will advance the implementation of the UNCRPD and ensure that disabled people are supported to live full lives of their own choosing. It is all about that lived experience. If we are going to get this right, it is about listening to them. I will come back to the Deputy on the timelines that he asked about.