Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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46. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to mark the United Nations' International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44196/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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I wholeheartedly support the aims of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and will use the day in December to raise awareness of the needs of persons with disabilities. I would encourage groups operating in the Disability Sector to highlight and support the occasion. This year, the theme of the day is “Transformation towards sustainable and resilient society for all” and in this context I have progressed a range of initiatives.

In July of this year, I launched the new National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017 – 2021. This is an all of Government Strategy which is aimed at significantly improving the lives of people with disabilities in a practical sense, and also in creating the best possible opportunities for people with disabilities to fulfil their potential. I think it is a valuable step forward in the lives of people with disabilities in Ireland. It contains 114 actions, which have been developed to have the maximum beneficial impact for people who have disabilities. A significant number of these actions have the capacity to significantly impact on the way in which services support people with disabilities, and will, when fully implemented, have the potential to transform people’s lives. One of these key actions is the examination of the recommendations of the report of the Personalised Budgets Task Force. The Task Force will report to me before the end of the year.

The National Disability Inclusion Strategy also contains significant commitments to support the Deaf Community. These include extension of the Irish Sign Language remote interpretation service and the resourcing of interpreters and the establishment of a quality-assurance and registration scheme for interpreters, for which I have, as already announced, secured funding via the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I was delighted to support the passage of the Recognition of Irish Sign Language Bill 2016 through Report Stage in the Seanad on 17 October. The Bill contains provisions relating to the obligations of public bodies in relation to Irish Sign Language, and the education of deaf children. I have also secured funding in principle for a scheme to provide interpretation for users of ISL for social and cultural services, the details of which are being worked out at present. It is anticipated that the Bill will be enacted and signed into law by the President before the end of the year.

Other significant developments since my appointment as Minister for Disability seventeen months ago include:

- Launch of the Make Work Pay Report (April 2017); many of the recommendations in the report are already being implemented.

- Provision of medical cards for nearly 10,000 children in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance.

- Increase of 4.4% in funding for Disability Services in Budget 2018, bringing the annual total to €1,763,000,000

In addition to the National Disability Inclusion Strategy, there is also a ten year Comprehensive Employment Strategy in place, the entire focus of which is to ensure that people with disabilities, who are able to, and want to, work are supported and enabled to do so. The key purpose of the Strategy is to ensure that there is a concerted, cross-government effort to address the barriers and challenges that impact on employment of people with disabilities. As part of this effort, we will increase the public sector employment target of persons with disabilities from 3% to 6%. An implementation group comprising relevant government departments and stakeholders meets regularly, to ensure that the commitments outlined in the Strategy are being progressed. The Strategy is coordinated by the Department of Justice and Equality.

One of the intentions of the United Nations International Disability Day is to increase awareness of disability issues. The National Disability Authority in cooperation with the Department of Justice and Equality operates an annual Disability Awareness Grant Scheme. The objective of the scheme is to support the promotion of positive attitudes towards persons with disabilities which has been one of my main focuses of attention since being appointed Minister. The 2017 scheme supports a Primary Schools Art Competition, the aim of which is to develop children’s understanding of disabilities and to help them celebrate the aspects that make them and their classmates unique. Furthermore, in 2017 grants were awarded to six organisations that will be implementing awareness raising projects in community, sporting and social activities.