Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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148. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeframe for the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52150/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Ireland signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007 and since then, successive Governments have emphasised Ireland’s strong commitment 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.

I am pleased that, at its meeting yesterday, the Government agreed to ratify the Convention.

The precise timetable for ratification and sequence of events will become clearer after the next Government meeting, and the formal process will commence early in the new year.

I have submitted draft legislation to the Government and, subject to cabinet approval, I intend to publish the deprivation of liberty provisions for public consultation soon thereafter. Deprivation of liberty is a sensitive and important matter which goes to the heart of fundamental freedoms and human rights.   Legislative proposals in this area will have significant implications for families, the operation of the health services and the courts.  It is important the people fully understand what is being proposed.  These provisions are intended to provide safeguards for older people and persons with disabilities and certain categories of people with mental health illnesses to ensure that they are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty in residential facilities. 

This Government is making good progress with regard to making the Convention's requirements operational in Ireland in an appropriate manner. Considerable progress has already been made to overcome the remaining legislative barriers to Ireland's full implementation of the Convention as set out in the 2015 roadmap.  The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 was signed into law on 30 December 2015 and is a comprehensive reform of the law on decision-making capacity. Section 5 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 was reformed through a 2017 Act of the same name to facilitate the full participation in family life of persons with intellectual disabilities and the full expression of their human rights.

There are two further priority implementation issues: these are the enactment of the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 and the commencement of the Assisted Decision Making Capacity Act 2015 which requires the Decision Support Service to be operational and ready to roll out the new decision-making support options. The 2018 Budget has provided an allocation of €3 million for the establishment of the Decision Support Service.

Finally, I am continuing to take a wide range of practical measures to improve the lives of people with disabilities.  The Report of the 'Make Work Pay Group' was published in April of this year and already action, as announced by the Minister for Health, has been taken on its recommendations. We have a Comprehensive Employment Strategy in place and 2017 has seen positive action measures being taken to support public sector recruitment of people with disabilities.  I also published the Disability Inclusion Strategy in July of this year containing wide range of practical commitments to improve the lives of people with disabilities.