Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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237. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to the slow pace of progress in achieving disability rights; if he will ensure that Ireland honours its commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, if his attention has been further drawn to the fact that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of employment and one of the highest poverty rates for persons with disabilities in the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8822/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Ireland is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), having ratified it in 2018. This marked an important milestone in a process to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities in Ireland that has gathered momentum since Ireland became a signatory to the Convention in 2007. Ireland submitted its Initial State Report on the implementation of the UNCRPD to the UN Committee in November 2021 and we look forward to receiving a review date from the UN Committee in due course to evaluate our progress to date.

The current model for meeting the obligations of the UNCRPD is through delivery of two whole-of-government national strategies -the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) and the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES). My Department is also working on the development of a UNCRPD Implementation Plan, which is a Programme for Government commitment.

I very am aware of the disproportionate employment and poverty challenges faced by people with disabilities in Ireland and Government is committed to addressing those challenges. 

The issue of employment is receiving dedicated attention in the context of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities, for which the Phase 3 Action Plan is presently in development. The CES’s strategic priorities are to build skills, capacity and independence, to provide bridges and supports into work, to make work pay, to promote job retention and re-entry to work, to provide coordinated and seamless supports and to engage employers.

Under the CES, my Department is funding the Employers for Change project which provides support to employers to recruit and retain people with disabilities.  My Department is also bringing forward legislative proposals in the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill to increase the target for employment of people with disabilities in the public sector from 3% to 6% by 2024. 

In relation to the disproportionate costs and expenses suffered by people with disabilities, the Minister for Social Protection published the Cost of Disability Report in December.  The Report was prepared by Indecon International Research Economists. It provides important evidence of the additional costs that people with a disability face in their day-to-day lives, and it was considered by the NDIS Steering Group (NDISSG) in December 2021, within 24 hours of publication.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to use research into the cost of disability to properly inform the direction of future policy. As the evidence in the Cost of Disability in Ireland report has implications for many areas of public policy, a whole-of-government approach is required to develop appropriate and timely responses and to ensure that everyday costs are reduced for people with disabilities and their families. By way of early action on this, in Budget 2022 Government increased the earnings limit on Disability Allowance by €25 from €350 to €375 and the weekly means disregard will increase from €2.50 to €7.60 in June 2022.