Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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432. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide a report on the establishment of a UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities implementation plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56360/22]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The development of a UNCRPD Implementation Plan is an important commitment in the Programme for Government and one which I and my colleagues across Government fully support.

As Minister of State with responsibility for Disability, I am committed to the continuous advancement of the rights of people with disabilities in Ireland. Since ratifying the UNCRPD in 2018, we have made progress in implementing the Convention through two national cross-Government strategies: the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) and the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES). The NDIS contains over 120 actions to support effective progress in delivering on the obligations set out in the UNCRPD while the CES is the primary disability employment policy initiative in Ireland. The programme of work set out in both of these strategies provides for continuous progress in advancing disability issues and rights under the UNCRPD. The UNCRPD Implementation Plan will ensure that we continue to drive forward such progress.

I can confirm to the Deputy that work is ongoing to develop the UNCRPD Implementation Plan. The NDIS Steering Group, which I chair, has discussed a number of concept papers since June 2021. Most recently, in September 2022, the NDIS Steering Group received presentations from the NDA on examples of other international models and options for the effective design and implementation of the strategy. A presentation was also delivered from my Department on the design of an inclusive and meaningful public consultation process to ensure that the voices of people with disabilities and their representative organisations inform the development of the Plan, as required under the UNCRPD.

Preliminary discussions have also taken place between my Department and Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) to ensure that representative organisations are involved in the design of the public consultation process itself. This will ensure that we adequately and appropriately value and prioritise the perspectives of DPOs, as advised by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in their General Comment No. 7 on the the participation of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organisations, in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention.

I support the important work that is continuing to take place within my Department and across Government to inform the development of the UNCRPD Implementation Plan. The phrase "nothing about us without us" is important in that regard and I am determined to ensure that the rights and needs of people with disabilities are placed at the heart of this new strategy.