Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome. I wish him to ask the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to engage with local authorities to request clear actions, targets and reporting regarding implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD.It is about time the Departments, local authorities and State agencies got real and serious about implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It should never be a box-ticking exercise or personality policy where one person in a local authority or Department has an interest in doing the right thing and brings up the standards within that local authority or Department.

I wrote to the Department recently asking that it write to the local authorities to ask each of them its action plans for the implementation of the UNCRPD. If the Department was serious, it would be investing and making it mandatory to do these things. However, when the Department responded to my questions on making it mandatory for disability staff training or on what it is doing in regard to upskilling or, indeed, on implementing any article of the UNCRPD, what I got back was jargon. To be honest, I was quite upset about it. What I got back was that section 47(1)(a) of the Disability Act 2015 requires public bodies in so far as is practicable to take all reasonable measures to promote and support employment by them of people of disabilities. "As far as practicable" is not an answer. As far as reasonable measures are concerned, there is no mandatory reporting. There are no concrete guidelines. There is nothing to ensure people with disabilities who work within the authorities are looked after and protected. I know first-hand there are people being bullied and abused every day and there is no way to report it and no line manager to go to. This is because, going back to the start, it is personality policy. If one has a good personality and is in control of these situations, one has a good policy. At present, there is no uniformity with regard to any of this.

The Department would not even write to me when I asked whether there was disability awareness training. It could not even ask a county manager whether he or she conducted or provided his or her staff with disability awareness training, disability equality training or any type of accessibility auditing training.

The Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, is here delivering a speech to me written by the said Department. To be honest, it is relentless. It is depressing if the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is at the front line in delivering housing and public realm projects, is not willing to accept that we need to start making it mandatory that policies are disability proofed. When we are putting in public realm projects and "improving" our local towns and we do not put in the proper tactile footing or do not mark our streets, we are making it dangerous for people with disabilities. It is cost neutral. If we are not spending money properly, that is a disgrace. It means the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is not planning for the future and not looking after potentially 15% of the population and is discriminating against them and making sure they are not allowed into our local centres.

The Minister of State should not get me started on the inaction in relation to making public partnership networks, PPNs, more attractive, suitable and welcoming for people with disabilities. I look forward to his response.