Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the timeframe for ratification of the UN Convention of the Rights for Persons with Disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2972/18]

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.

As you will be aware, Government, at a meeting last month, agreed to ratify the Convention. The next step will be for the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to bring forward a Memorandum for Government on the formal ratification process which will happen in the coming weeks. The Attorney General has advised that a Dáil resolution will be required in the context of a charge upon public funds arising from the ratification of the convention. This will be a welcome opportunity for debate in the House on the position of people with disabilities in our society and the importance of this convention.

The Government also approved the publication of draft legislation relating to deprivation of liberty for public consultation. The draft legislative provisions outline proposed safeguards for older people, persons with a disability and certain categories of people with mental health issues to ensure that they are not unlawfully deprived of their liberty in residential facilities.

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 that people fully understand what is being proposed. For this reason, Minister Harris and I are inviting submissions from stakeholders and the general public by way of public consultation up until March before these are finalised for drafting.

This Government is making good progress with regard to making the Convention’s requirements operational in Ireland in an appropriate and timely 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 on the law of 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 last year and already action, as announced by Minister Harris has been taken on its recommendations.

We have a Comprehensive Employment Strategy in place and 2017 saw positive action measures being taken to support public service recruitment of people with disabilities. I also published the Disability Inclusion Strategy in July of last year containing a wide range of practical commitments to improve the lives of people with disabilities.