Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

196. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there has been any progress from the Cabinet committee on implementation of the UNCRPD (details supplied). [26239/24]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Cabinet Committee on Children and Education and Disability was established with a mandate to oversee the implementation of Programme for Government commitments in the area of disability, with a particular focus on the forthcoming new National Disability Strategy.

Ireland ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018. The next National Disability Strategy will be the first such strategy published since ratification and will realise a key Programme for Government commitment to develop a plan for the further implementation of the UNCRPD in Ireland. The next National Disability Strategy will provide a framework for whole-of-government action on disability, acting as a coordination and accountability mechanism and ensuring the advancement of a coherent vision for disability policy. My Department is leading discussions across government for the development of actions under the Strategy. In this context, the Cabinet Committee on Children and Education and Disability has been a vital forum for Ministerial leadership, driving momentum and setting out an agenda for an ambitious and transformative next National Disability Strategy.

The Cabinet Committee has also had a focus on children's services. Following on from a Government decision in May, a targeted initiative focussed on long waiting families is being developed by the HSE. This waiting list initiative will result in 2,500 privately sourced AONs and intends to support families, on a CHO by CHO basis, by targeting those children waiting longest for AON, allocating AONs by order of application in line with statutory obligations.

Where the Cabinet Committee takes an additional focus on education, this is a matter for the Minister for Education.