Seanad debates

Tuesday, 31 May 2005

Disability Bill 2004: Second Stage.

 

7:00 pm

Photo of Joanna TuffyJoanna Tuffy (Labour)

The Minister of State spoke about the €2.9 billion which is currently spent on services for people with disabilities. If we considered the matter from the perspective I have outlined, the focus would be on the €38 billion which is spent to proof expenditure to ensure everybody has his or her rights enforced, including people with disabilities and people of different genders and ages.

In their discussions with the Minister of State and the Taoiseach, rights groups and the DLCG suggested a disability commissioner would be established under the legislation. There is a precedent for the provision in the rights commissioner provided for in the language legislation. The Information Commissioner is provided for in the FOI legislation. Commissioners can play a role in the review of legislation such as the one promised by the Minister of State to take place in five years. A disability commissioner would be the ideal person to carry out a review and ensure the legislation is implemented across the public service.

Section 20 does not provide recourse to the courts. As I no longer work as a solicitor, my interest in the matter is observational rather than vested. The failure to provide such recourse is typical of the Government's approach to legal rights. Another example was the legislation it brought before the House before Christmas to deprive people of their right to compensation on foot of illegal nursing home charges. There is a negative attitude to those who attempt to pursue rights which, of course, we would not have were people not prepared to fight for them. Ultimately, people pursue their rights through the courts. As the legislation attempts to deprive them of the right, it will be found unconstitutional. It is right and fitting that the legislation establishes a separate forum people can access easily to have their rights adjudicated. While most people will want to go that way and, if the system works correctly, accept the determination of the appeals process, they should have the right of ultimate resort to the courts.

While points of law are allowed for, the provision does not go far enough. If a person feels a decision made through the appeals process is unfair or mistaken, he or she should be able to go to court to have the matter determined. While we expect to have the facility in every other aspect of life, we are trying to take the right away from the most vulnerable group in society. The Minister of State said other countries had not provided for justiciable rights, which is an argument I do not accept. It is a fundamental right in democratic countries with proper legal systems that one can ultimately go to court to pursue one's rights. Not only are we failing to provide rights under the legislation, we are taking them away. It is a step backwards.

If the Government intends to do everything it says it will under the components of its strategy and sectoral plans, of what is it afraid? Most people do not want to go to court, they want simply to be able to assert their rights straightforwardly in the course of their normal dealings with public services. The courts are a place of last resort for the vast majority of the population and no one takes recourse to them lightly.

While any legislation represents progress and the Bill has some positive elements, the failure to address the five recommendations of the disability groups is not good enough. It is a poor effort from a Government which has had ten years to formulate the legislation. To bring forward such legislation after ten years is to close a door on all of those involved. How long will they have to wait to see legislation in this area again? Must they wait for a change of Government to have their fundamental rights recognised? In its 1997 programme, the Government promised to carry out the wishes of those involved in the disability campaign and said it was committed to ensuring disability was placed on the agenda of every Department and public body where it belonged. The Government said it recognised that disability was one of the most important social issues facing Ireland. If that was true, I urge the Minister of State to accept the five recommendations which have been put forward by the disability groups and by me today. The Minister of State should use the Seanad as a vehicle to change the legislation.

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