Written Answers. - Rights of People with Disabilities.
Donal Carey
Question:
242
Mr. D. Carey
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the number of measures which his Department has enacted referring to people with disabilities; the date of their passing; the benefits accruing to them; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[12763/98]
Following publication of the report A Strategy for Equality, an interdepartmental task force was established to draft a plan of action on the rights of people with disabilities, based on the report. I expect to receive the plan of action shortly and to submit it to Government for consideration as soon as possible thereafter.
The Government is fully committed to the work of the Irish Council of People with Disabilities and recognises the need for a permanent independent voice which would highlight issues of concern to people with disabilities. I provided £700,000 in the Estimates to fund the work of the Irish Council of People with Disabilities in 1998. This more than doubled the 1997 Estimates provision of £300,000. It will enable the interim council to expedite the work involved in establishing an agreed permanent council with a constitution, structure and membership that empowers and gives cohesion to its county networks, which are at the heart of this process. It is expected that the permanent council will be established in 1999.
In order to address the problem of access on information for people with disabilities, my Department has established a number of pilot community development projects in Ennis, Cork city, Tallaght-Clondalkin and south Kerry. The projects commenced in the latter part of 1997 and it is intended, by means of these projects, to facilitate access at local level by people with disabilities to information, in appropriate formats, on the issues affecting their lives. It is also intended to facilitate participation by people with disabilities in local area partnerships. I have provided £160,000 in the Estimates for 1998 to ensure there is no reduction in momentum in the operation of the projects.
On 25 July 1997 the monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities held its first meeting. The committee is comprised of the representatives of people with disabilities, their parents and carers, as well as of the social partners, disability organisations and Government Departments. It has been a valuable source of advice and assistance to the task force in the latter's work.
I have also been committed to cross-departmental working so as to facilitate the effective delivery of services, to minimise bureaucracy and to promote equality for people with disabilities. As a result of such working, my colleague the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Deputy Ahern, in conjunction with Deputy Wallace, Minister of State at my Department with special responsibility for disability, announced a package of funding in October 1997 of £4,325,000 aimed at directly benefiting 11,000 people with disabilities and voluntary agencies. The funding was aimed at enhancing the opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve independent living and community integration.
On 18 November 1997, I announced my intention to establish a national disability authority which would be an executive body with responsibility for monitoring and reporting on the impact of public policy and services on people with disabilities. An establishment group was set up to work on detailed proposals for establishing the NDA for submission to Government within six months. The group, which held its first meeting on 18 December 1997, has also been examining the question of a disability support service and the transfer of certain departmental responsibilities for the training and employment of people with disabilities from the Department of Health and Children to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The group is expected to have it proposals ready for submission to Government this month. Preliminary work on the preparation of legislative provisions, which will be required for the estabishing of the authority and the disability support service, is under way in my Department.
Other legislation which impacts on disability and which is being progressed by my Deparmtent includes the Employment Equality Bill and an Equal Status Bill. Both of these Bills passed through all stages in both Houses of the Oireachtas in 1997 but, in a reference to the Supreme Court by the President under Article 26 of the Constitution, were found to be unconstitutional on a number of grounds.
The Employment Equality Bill which outlaws discrimination in employment on grounds of disability, among others, is under consideration by the Oireachtas. Regard was had in its drafting to the constitutional issues raised by the Supreme Court. It completed Committee Stage in the Dáil on 28 May 1998 and it is hoped that the Bill will have completed all stages in the Dáil and Seanad and ready to be signed into law by the end of June 1998.
The enactment of this legislation will give people with disabilities the protection of the law for the first time in relation to access to employment and advancement within employment. It is hoped it will also contribute to a reduction in the unacceptable high rates of unemployment of people with disabilities generally and build an awareness of the prevalence of discrimination on grounds of disability in the workplace.
It is also proposed to bring an Equal Status Bill before the Oireachtas in the latter part of 1998. This Bill will outlaw discrimination on similar grounds as with the Employment Equality Bill, but outside of the workplace. It, also, will have regard to the constitutional issues raised by the Supreme Court.
The Children Act, 1997, was enacted on 9 December 1997. Part III of the Act updates the law on the giving of evidence in certain civil proceedings by a person who has a mental disability. Part III takes into account recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission and by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities. This Part of the Act will be the subject of a commencement order as soon as the necessary arrangements are put in place.
When the planned legislative, institutional and services provision improvements for people with disabilities are in place it will be possible to consider the form which a Disability Bill might take and whether it will be necessary to bring forward proposals for a disability equality amendment to the Constitution in preparation for a Disability Bill.
I am committed to ensuring that disability is placed where it belongs, on the agenda of every Government Department and public body.
