Theresa Ahearn
Question:4 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress, if any, with the drafting and preparation of a disabilities Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11049/00]
Ceisteanna–Questions. Priority Questions. - Proposed Legislation.
A commitment has been given in the Government's legislative programme to bring forward a disabilities Bill at the earliest opportunity. This measure will be the fourth major legislative measure in the area of disability since the Government took office.
To date three major legislative measures have been introduced. These are the Employment Equality Act, 1998, which outlaws discrimination against people with disabilities on employment grounds, the Equal Status Bill, 1999, which outlaws discrimination on similar grounds in relation to the supply of goods and services and the National Disability Authority Act, 1999, which is a key element in the policy of mainstreaming services for people with disabilities. The Employment Equality Act, 1998, and the National Disability Authority Act, 1999, are already in place and the Equal Status Bill, 1999, concluded its passage through the Seanad this morning and will conclude its passage through this House next week.
Each of the existing items of legislation is ground-breaking in nature and, in many respects, is in advance of best practice adopted elsewhere. The Employment Equality Act, 1998, and the infrastructural arrangements to support it, the Equality Authority and the Equality Investigations Office came into operation on 15 October 1999. The National Disability Authority will be put in place shortly, in conjunction with the new mainstreaming arrangements for services for people with disabilities, which include the establishment of a new advice and advocacy service called Comhairle, by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.
I have outlined each of these developments in regard to disability which will provide the context within which I see the development of a disabilities Bill. The measures which have been and are being introduced in relation to legislation and services for people with disabilities provide the landscape against which the proposed disabilities Bill will be developed, together with the recommendations as regards the scope of the legislation contained in the Report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities.
Detailed work on the disabilities Bill will take place during the summer following the establishment of the National Disability Authority and the mainstream services that will be put in place before the summer. I hope to be in a position to publish a disabilities Bill in the first half of next year.
I am devastated to hear that work on the detailed framework of the disability Bill will not commence until the summer. I remind the Minister of State that in a policy document issued by her party in 1996 she stated that there is a clear need for formal statutory protection of the rights of people with disabilities. Does she accept that a major recommendation of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, which was established in November 1993, was the introduction of a disability Bill? Does she also accept that the commission, in its conclusions, indicated that very few of the recommendations contained in its report could be implemented without the introduction and enactment of a disability Bill?
There is no excuse for delaying the introduction of the legislation. The Government has been in office for three years and by delaying the introduction of the legislation it is doing a U-turn on the commitment given in Fianna Fáil's policy document, turning its back on the major recommendation of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities and, worst of all, letting down the disabled who are depending on this legislation to protect their rights.
The Deputy referred to the fact that the commission was established in November 1993 but she failed to acknowledge that it reported in November 1996. The Fianna Fáil policy document to which she referred was published in January 1996 and it highlighted the need to publish a disability Bill as a positive action measure. In fairness to the current Administration, the Deputy must appreciate the former Government encountered difficulties with two key items of legislation which relate to this area, namely, the Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Bill. The anti-discrimination measures the previous Government attempted to pass failed on constitutional grounds at the Supreme Court and it was essential that the current Administration ensured that the items of legislation in question were redrafted.
The Employment Equality Act has now been passed and the Equal Status Bill is about to complete its passage through the Oireachtas. In that light, it is obvious that the positive action measure which the disability Bill represents could only come on stream after the anti-discrimination measures were in place.
The main focus of the commission's report which was published in November 1996 was the establishment of a national disability authority and a move towards mainstreaming arrangements. The Government did not sit back and wait to take action in that regard. Following the passage of the anti-discrimination measures, it brought both on stream at the same time. The Equal Status Bill has almost completed its passage through the Oireachtas and the national disability authority and the mainstream services are ready to be formally launched.
When the matters to which I refer are finally dealt with this year, the detailed work on the promised disability Bill, which is a positive action measure, will proceed. Initial preparatory work on the Bill has commenced and the groundwork has been carried out at official level. However, it is appropriate that the serious consultation with organisations representing people with disabilities should take place in the summer.
The time allocated to this question is exhausted.
I wish to put a very important supplementary question to the Minister of State.
The Deputy must be brief.
The Minister of State brought to our attention – we were already aware of them – the constitutional difficulties which arose in respect of the Equal Status Bill. I am sure she will agree that people with disabilities, as a result of those difficulties, believed that the rights of people with property were almost superior to theirs. Will a constitutional amendment be needed to ensure that there will be no further difficulties in respect of the framing of the disability Bill? Are there any proposals to introduce such an amendment?
With regard to constitutional amendments in the disability area, the Deputy will note that the constitutional review group reported in May 1996 and recommended that Article 40.1 of the Constitution be amended to provide that all persons shall be held equal before the law and that no person shall be unfairly discriminated against, directly or indirectly, on any ground. The recommendation listed the grounds on which it is unfair to discriminate and included a reference to disability in this regard. It is expected that these matters will be dealt with in detail in the latter part of the year by the constitutional review group.
That concludes Priority Questions.