Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the motion and the Minister of State. This is an important debate. I look forward to continuing the debate over the coming years. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was not ratified by the previous Government and is not being ratified by this Government. I received replies from the Minister for Justice and Equality recently. The Government takes the approach that it will only ratify the convention it has signed up for after it has passed the necessary legislation. That is work that will never end because there is so much to be done in getting the rights of people with disabilities onto the Statute Book. It might be decades before we end up passing legislation to enshrine the rights people should have in law. Perhaps the Minister of State can bring this point back to her colleagues.

If a member of the deaf community with Irish sign language wants to interact with Members of this House, there is no provision for a sign language interpreter. Some 5,000 members of the deaf community use Irish sign language and 50,000 people can use Irish sign language. The Good Friday Agreement provides for the use of Irish sign language North and South. It is in place in the North but there is no provision of services in the South for people to interact with State agencies, the medical profession or Members of the Oireachtas. They cannot call upon interpreters to enable them to communicate with teachers in school, a principal or a public representative. We have a long way to go on the most basic matters. One would think that a member of the deaf community would be able to communicate with a Member of this House yet if we want to bring a member of the deaf community to speak to a Minister, it will cost €200 to provide an interpreter. That will have to be provided from the Member's pocket. I am not worried about the money but about the fact that it is such a laborious process. That is a small example of how we are not connecting people with disabilities to Ministers.

I welcome this debate. We have a long way to go and we will never get there because it is a journey without an end. It is continuing to provide services to people with disabilities and those who cannot speak for themselves, literally in the cases of people who are unable to speak. It is our job to speak on their behalf to ensure that in these tough times the Government can provide the required services for people to live with dignity.