Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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285. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2122/16]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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The Government has given a firm commitment to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and intends to proceed to ratification as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to ensure all necessary legislative and administrative requirements under the Convention are met.

Ireland signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2007 and is one of three EU member states yet to ratify. As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland is a dualist State, Article 29.6 of the Constitution providing that international agreements have the force of law to the extent determined by the Oireachtas. It is essential therefore that the State is in a position to meet the obligations it assumes under the terms of an international agreement from the moment of its entry into force for Ireland. Before the State can ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, enactment of new legislation and amendment of existing legislation is required to ensure obligations will be met upon entry into force for Ireland.

On 21 October 2015, Minister Fitzgerald and I published a roadmap to Ireland’s ratification of the CRPD, which outlines legislative changes to be undertaken to enable Ireland to ratify the Convention, along with the estimated timeframe involved. We also approved the drafting of an omnibus bill to progress miscellaneous legislative amendments necessary to proceed to ratification, the Equality/Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, the General Scheme of which will be published shortly, with enactment by the end of 2016.

The Roadmap to Ratification is available on my Department’s website. It sets out the considerable work currently underway to deal with outstanding barriers to Ireland’s ratification, including mental health legislation, the law governing the administration of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), amendments to the criminal law, and the removal of archaic and offensive references in legislation across Government Departments to persons being “of unsound mind”. Other hurdles include the resolution of the constitutional issue concerning reasonable accommodation, and ensuring that the Convention’s requirements are met in relation to deprivation of liberty. These, along with any outstanding miscellaneous legislative amendments, will be resolved in the Equality/Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.