DISABILITY groups unanimously welcomed yesterday's report by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and urged prompt Government action to implement its recommendations.
The National Rehabilitation Board's chairman, Mr Colm O'Doherty, said the report was "far reaching" and "challenged Ireland's political, social and economic conscience".
While acknowledging that the report will need special study, Mr O'Doherty welcomed the outcome of "what must be one of the most consultative processes ever undertaken by a committee".
This process had created great expectations, including the hope that the Government would respond positively and quickly to the report's recommendations.
The board's chief executive, Dr Arthur O'Reilly, said the implementation of the recommendations should be monitored. On the new structures recommended in the report, Dr O'Reilly, who was a member of the commission, agreed that there was a need to provide a better and more coordinated system of information, advice and support.
He said the report emphasised that existing structures should be used and developed to maximise existing resources and that structural changes should be made without significant additional costs. The board's role would be reviewed in the light of the commission's recommendations, he added.
The Disability Federation of Ireland described the report as "a major document that will undoubtedly condition all future legislation and thinking in this area".
Chief executive Mr Roger Acton said that after many years of lobbying and promoting the difficulties facing people with disabilities, "today sees the culmination of that work in one single document that will hopefully become a reference point for positive action for all people with disabilities".
The National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland said it particularly welcomed the report's call for the establishment of statutory rights for people with disabilities, "to enable them to partake in all aspects of Irish life as full and equal citizens".
The association called on the Government to give a "strong and unambiguous" commitment to establish, either in law or in the Constitution, the rights of Irish people with disabilities to full economic and social access to society.
The Rehab Group's chief executive, Mr Frank Flannery, welcomed the report's acknowledgement of the need to redefine disability, to radically overhaul the system for the delivery of services to people with disabilities, and to introduce new legislation to underpin such changes.
Mr Hannery said it was "imperative" that the Government act quickly to implement the report's recommendations and ensure adequate resources to do so.
The Forum of People with Disabilities said the report will set the agenda into the next century. "We expect action on that agenda will be prompt, effective and resourced.
"We expect and demand that disabled people will be facilitated to fully participate in its implementation."