Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to discuss the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, and I thank Senator Buttimer for the invitation. As many Members will be aware, the ratification of the convention has been a deeply held commitment of mine since I was appointed as the very first Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues. The very creation of this office signals a firm commitment by this Government to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Today, 21 March, is World Down Syndrome Day. The day is significant in that persons with Down's syndrome have a third chromosome on the 21st strand, hence the chosen date of the 21st day of the third month. Later this evening, I will leave this House to launch a photographic exhibition organised by Down Syndrome Ireland. The theme of the exhibition, "What I Bring to My Community", encapsulates so much of my thinking regarding people with disability in society.

As a father to a daughter with Down's syndrome, this is an important day for my family and me. It reminds me of one of my primary reasons for being in politics, namely, to advocate for the rights, inclusion and well-being of all persons with disabilities. There has been some recent commentary and criticism suggesting that the ratification of the convention is a paper-based exercise or PR stunt or that it will not make any difference to people's lives. I assure Senators that if that were the case, I would not have pursued ratification so doggedly. The issue was so important to me that I made sure it was a part of the programme or Government.

People ask if ratification will make any difference to everyday lives. I firmly believe that it will. The purpose of the convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities and promote respect for their inherent dignity. To put it another way, the convention provides that people with disabilities should have the same rights as everyone else, and should be provided with the practical supports that make that aspiration a reality.

Ratifying the convention signals our commitment to the ongoing improvement in the provision of disability services. In keeping with this principle, I recognise that there is always much to be done, including ratification of the optional protocol. Furthermore, while we have already made significant progress in reforming the law on decision-making capacity and participation in family life, there still remains some legislation to be enacted. I accept the points on that issue.

It was originally intended to introduce the deprivation of liberty provisions in the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 as amendments on Committee Stage. However, owing to the complexity and far-reaching implications of the proposals and in response to feedback, the Government decided it was better to deal with the issues separately. The provisions will now feature in a stand-alone Bill to be sponsored by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and me. My target for the enactment of the legislation is the end of this year. A public consultation on draft heads of the Bill on this issue concluded on 9 March. I offer my sincere thanks to everyone who made a submission. A number of organisations have been granted an extension until mid-April, and I look forward to receiving these submissions in due course.

The central problem to be addressed by the new provisions is that existing legislation does not provide a procedure for admitting persons without capacity to relevant facilities in which they will be under continuous supervision and control and will not be free to leave. Existing legislation also does not provide a procedural safeguard to ensure that individuals are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty. The draft legislation proposals that I published for public consultation last December are designed to address this gap by providing safeguards for older people, persons with a disability and some categories of people with mental illness, to ensure they are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty in certain residential facilities. The development of these deprivation of liberty legislative provisions is a highly complex undertaking. In addition to satisfying the requirements of the UNCRPD, the provisions must also align with our obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and existing legislation such as the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 and the Mental Health Act 2001.

Other implementation issues that are required to meet our obligations under the UNCRPD will be addressed via the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which is currently awaiting Committee Stage in Dáil Éireann. The Government has given the approval for the Bill to receive priority within the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, and work is under way to progress the Bill for enactment by the end of the year, hopefully sooner.

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 also needs to be fully commenced. A total of €3 million in funding has now been allocated in 2018 for the establishment of the decision support service, with will be the engine room in the context of the UN convention. There has been some commentary in recent weeks on the ratification of the optional protocol, which has not been ratified at this time. It will be ratified as soon as possible following the completion of Ireland's first reporting cycle. This will provide an opportunity to identify areas for improvement and any actions needed for a high level of compliance. While I accept that a commitment to ratify the optional protocol at the same time as the convention was given in the 2015 roadmap, my current focus as Minister of State has been on ratifying the convention in the first instance. This was to be the first step.

As I have outlined, the convention and the optional protocol cover a broad range of commitments, some of which will require substantive cultural change. Indeed, an analysis of some 14 complaints brought under the optional protocol since 2010 highlights a range of areas that we are working hard to address, such as the deprivation of liberty and the right of deaf persons to participate in jury duty. Work is continuing on the final reforms needed for Ireland's compliance with the convention's requirements. For this reason, a phased approach is seen as the most practical and realistic way of moving forward.

The other question people often ask me about the convention relates to resources. This has been raised many times by my colleagues in the Seanad. I fully agree that to support people effectively in accessing their rights, the proper allocation of resources is a key consideration. As politicians, we need to mindful of any changes in policy and resourcing that could significantly impact on everyday circumstances. For example, since the closure of the mobility allowance, the Government decided that the HSE would continue to pay an equivalent monthly payment of up to €208.50 per month to 4,133 people in receipt of a mobility allowance, pending the establishment of a new transport support scheme. Work on proposals for the replacement scheme is at an advanced stage.

I have always placed a strong emphasis on securing adequate funding, with €1.76 billion allocated by the Department of Health for disability services in 2018 representing an increase of 4.4% on 2017. Furthermore, in December 2017, following consultation with families and members of this House, I announced an additional €10 million in funding for respite care had been secured.

It is not just about funding. We need to focus on this point. We need to challenge attitudes and recognise the valuable contribution that persons with disabilities can make to our economy and society when supported to do so. We need to focus on ability rather than disability. In Ireland, we have strong equality legislation which prevents discrimination the basis of disability. However, people with disabilities are still only half as likely to be in employment as others of working age. This is why we launched the comprehensive employment strategy in 2015. The strategy sets out a ten-year approach, ensuring that people who are able to work and want to work are supported and enabled to do so. There is a huge pool of talent in the disability sector. It includes commitments such as an increase in the public services employment target on a phased basis from 3% to 6%; special public service competitions, and the opening up of alternative recruitment channels; and the provision of an employment helpline, assisted by the National Disability Authority, NDA, to provide expert guidance and peer support to employers. These are concrete examples of how Ireland can fulfil its obligations under the convention. I note also that we are way ahead of some other countries that have already ratified the convention.This country has embarked on an era of unprecedented change in services for people with disabilities over recent years which means we are now ready to meet those obligations.

In July 2017, I launched the national disability inclusion strategy. It takes a whole-of-government approach to improving the lives of people with disabilities and contains more than 100 measurable and time-specific actions that relate to the areas of education, employment, provision of public services, health, transport, and personal safety and autonomy. The strategy and the robust monitoring framework supported by the NDA leaves us well placed to respond to the requirements of the convention.

In the context of living in the community, we will continue to implement Time to Move On to give those who currently reside in institutions the choice and control over where and with whom they live. Relevant to this is the programme for Government commitment to reduce the number of people living in congregated settings by at least one third by 2021 and to ultimately close all such settings. At the end of 2017, there were fewer than 2,400 people living in a congregated setting, and this year the HSE intends to move 170 more out of these old-style institutions into the community and support them to live independently. The national housing strategy for people with a disability has been extended to support this objective.

Another key commitment in the programme for Government was the establishment of a task force on personalised budgets for people with disabilities, which I launched in September 2016. The task force has been asked to analyse approaches in other jurisdictions and recommend an approach and an implementation strategy for the introduction of personalised budgets in Ireland. This task force is an example of my thinking and belief regarding people with a disability that we must allow them to say how they wish to lead their own lives. It will be a core element in responding to some of the fundamental principles of the convention that we respect dignity, autonomy, independence and the freedom to make one's own choices.