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

I thank all the Senators for their contributions and for their support over the past two years since I was appointed Minister of State. I accept some of their valid criticism because ratification of the UNCRPD is a common goal which should unite us all, parties, Independents, civil society groups and stakeholders. We are all keen to see it ratified. We are dedicated to continuous improvement where equality and human rights are concerned. If I run out of time in responding to questions, I will reply individually to Senators.

When I was appointed Minister of State almost two years ago, I set myself ten objectives. The first was to deal with the crisis of 18 year olds in the adult services. I had to ask the Minister and the Government to get an extra €31 million to deal with those day places for 18 year olds. The next issue was the restoration of the carer's grant to 101,000 families, at €1,700 per family. The third issue I moved on to was to provide medical cards for the 11,000 children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance. Other issues I dealt with during the year include the €3 million for the disability support service, which is very relevant to this debate today and the increase of €10 in the disability and carer's allowances in the two most recent budgets, the €10 million for the ability programme for education and training of young people and an increase of €167 million in the HSE social care plan for 2017 and 2018.Members referred to the respite issue. In December, €10 million extra was allocated for respite care. The final issue is the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD. These are my objectives. Of course I have a lot more to do, and I intend to do a lot more. I have listened to some excellent ideas presented here today, some of which I will take on board.

With regard to the debate on the convention, if Ireland was fully compliant, we would not need a convention at all. That is the reality for people with disabilities. The disability Bill still needs to be enacted and it includes a range of provisions that are needed to improve compliance with the convention. These include amendment of the Juries Act, amendment of the Electoral Act to repeal the prohibition of persons of unsound mind from standing for election to the Dáil or Seanad, provisions to establish a monitoring framework involving the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the National Disability Authority, and amendments to increase the standards required for the provision of reasonable accommodation. There is also a proposal to increase public service employment of people with disabilities from 3% to 6% by 2024. I have listened to the proposals for the higher objective of 10%, which is a very concrete proposal that I welcome. Now that the priority draft has been approved for the disability Bill and it has been decoupled from the deprivation of liberty provisions, work is under way to bring it forward to Committee Stage as soon as possible.

A number of amendments that are mostly technical in nature will be brought forward on Committee Stage and I will ensure that appropriate arrangements are made for pre-legislative scrutiny of them. I want to talk to people and to listen to them. The aim is to enact the legislation by August 2018, and certainly not by the end of the year. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 also needs to be fully commenced. This Act provides for comprehensive reform of the law on decision-making capacity that aligns it with Article 12 of the convention. It also provides for the setting up of a new body called the decision support service. This leads on to some of the points raised by Senator Martin Conway. The role of the decision support service will be to support decision making by and for adults with decision-making capacity difficulties. Key preparations are being put in place under the oversight of a high level steering committee. The recently appointed director of the decision support service is working in a determined way to get the necessary staff, resources, processes and IT systems, expert panels, codes of practice and regulation in place to get the service up and running as quickly as possible. I accept that there were delays in that regard, but an excellent director has been appointed and we are moving on to fill the other gaps.

Turning to the optional protocol, it is absolutely the intention to opt in and I can say this very strongly. I want to ensure, however, that progress is sustainable and to ensure the maximum benefit. Our time and resources in the initial implementation phase are being better spent on improving the standards of services. These improvements, many of which have been flagged in the House today, are much needed.

It is my intention that the optional protocol will be ratified once we have completed the first reporting cycle under the convention. This will provide us with an opportunity to reflect and prioritise actions to achieve the highest possible level of compliance. With the ratification of the convention in place, I can now focus on using the convention - many Members are missing this point - to better equip and resource people with disabilities to improve their quality of life. Once we have this in the bag, we can use it to push forward. Ratification was a key commitment in the programme for Government.

Senator Dolan referred to the change of approach. Given the advanced progress that has been achieved towards compliance with the convention, and taking into account the remaining implementation requirements, the Government has decided that the State is now ready to become bound by the terms of the convention and become accountable under the UNCRPD. This is an important point. I am pleased to announce that Ireland's instrument of ratification was deposited yesterday with the UN Office of Legal Affairs. It will become legally binding in 30 days, which is 19 April.