John Dolan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. In her statement, she talked about Mr. Robert Schuman and said he was an advocate of Franco-German reconciliation long before it became fashionable. That was an example of leadership. She went on to quote him. Schuman said:

Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.

That has not happened for the 80 million people with disabilities across the EU, 16% of the population. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been ratified by the 28 member states, acknowledges that the promise of a free and democratic union of states has yet to be achieved for 80 million people with disabilities across Europe. Why do I say that? Before I come to that, I refer to states that are not members of the EU, including Albania and Montenegro, which are keen to join, and those in the eastern partnership, including Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine and others. I know people from, and organisations in, those countries that deal with people with disabilities and how critical having the comfort of being in a Union like the European Union would be to them.

Let me come back to my core issue. All 28 member states are still struggling to give emancipation and freedom to their citizens with disabilities and to their families, by virtue of the situation with their family member. The EU member states have ratified the convention in the last decade but let us go back to 1948 and the fledgling UN and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It said that on the basis that one is a human being, one has human rights. It is not because of one's colour, creed, class or where one comes from. However, 58 years on from that, the UN had to bring in a convention that did not give one right to people because they were disabled. It said they already had them for the last six decades. States in Europe and elsewhere, as they sign and ratify that convention, are actually saying they have not done the business for people with disabilities. They have not honoured their dignity and humanity and brought them in. Important things have been done. Senator O'Reilly mentioned gender equality but it is not there for disabled women. We are in a situation where we have to get on with that work.

The EU is in a vulnerable situation, such as it has never been in its history. At the same time, no other regional entity in the world is as strong and has the potential the EU has in terms of its democratic values. It is a precious entity. It is bureaucratic to the hilt. It is the hardest place in the world to love or hug. It is so full of processes and so on but it is valuable and it needs to be fought for.

Some 300,000 disabled people were slaughtered by the Nazis in Germany, Austria and in other states during the last war, not because they were anti-Nazi but because they were disabled. Humanity does not seem to be as strongly appreciated by some people. That is a great challenge that now faces the Union and it will bring Schuman's notion of de factosolidarity to a conclusion in the sense of a huge part of the population.

I ask Members and the Minister of State in her work to consider this. I have engaged with three Commissioners at different committees and, to put it mildly, their appreciation or understanding of their remit in terms of people with disabilities has been very "shy". There is cultural and attitudinal work to be done.