TD criticises Government’s slow progress on disability rights

Ireland is the only EU member state yet to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Dáil has heard.

Independent TD Thomas Pringle, who criticised the State’s slow progress on the issue, claimed the Department of Justice and Equality and the Department of Health were blaming each other for the failure to ratify the convention before the end of the year.

“This is disgraceful carry-on considering that every Department in the Government is responsible for seeing this through.”

But Taoiseach Enda Kenny defended the Government’s approach and said “other countries have ratified the convention before they have introduced the sectoral legislation that would allow for competence to be evident”.

Advanced

Mr Kenny insisted that “Ireland has advanced the position of those with disabilities beyond that of many other EU states”.

He could not commit to a ratification date because they had to deal with a question that had been outstanding for a long time: the requirement dealing with reasonable accommodation and deprivation of liberty.

The Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill is due before the Dáil in the new year. Once it has passed, along with the replacement of section 5 of the 1993 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act and the commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, the State could go for ratification “with competence”.

Petition

Mr Kenny also apologised that a Donegal disability activist, Frank Larkin, had not received a reply when in May he handed in a petition with 500 signatures to the Taoiseach’s office calling for the convention’s ratification.

In the accompanying letter Mr Larkin highlighted incidents where he said his rights had been denied as a person with disabilities.

He said that when getting the bus to Dublin “I had to ask two people to help me on to the bus as accessible public transport does not exist in Donegal. This always is a humiliating and embarrassing experience.”

Mr Larkin also said the personal assistance he had been offered to maintain a level of independence amounted to two hours a week, and despite having a number qualifications he had no success in finding meaningful employment.