Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a welcome development as since the last debate, the Government has given a commitment to ratify the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This would provide an accountability mechanism, were a person's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities being violated. A UN committee would also be responsible for overseeing, over which the Irish Government would not be able to appoint people and this would create an accountability mechanism.

The Government also published a Green Paper on disability allowance that would introduce a tiered system for disability payments. I note this was opposed by Senator Clonan in a Private Members' business, PMB, motion, along with other grassroots groups. The Government later decided not to pursue this.

The Government chose to say it would strive to support the provision of care. It defied the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and did not recognise care within the wider community, a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, among others, attempted to argue this would create a greater obligation on the State because those in need of care could take the State to court. The defeat of the care referendum in the spring and the campaigning of the carers and their organisation for a "No" vote shows that even when a tokenistic constitutional acknowledgement was offered, it was rejected because it was simply not good enough. People with disabilities and those who provide care deserve strong State supports and entitlements.

The leak of the Attorney General's advice made it clear that there would be no specific legal obligation on the State. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, also withheld the interdepartmental minutes in which legal wording that would have placed a clear obligation on the State was discussed. A costing exercise was mentioned in the interdepartmental minutes. Shamefully, this is a Government that does not do enough to support disability and carer's rights strongly enough.

The failure of the referendum and the opposition to the constitutional amendment from disability rights groups in part reflects a desire for a stronger commitment and not tokenism. I therefore welcome this Bill as a step in the direction of better provisions for people and hope it succeeds in creating a legal requirement to provide all supports listed in an assessment of need.