I support the Bill. The Labour Party spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy O'Sullivan, stated in the debate last night that the Labour Party will support this Bill which was drafted by the National Parents and Siblings Alliance. The alliance is to be complimented on bringing forward this very worthy Bill which is underpinned by fundamental principles relating to the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with a disability. The Bill seeks to secure the fair, simple and speedy resolution of complaints relating to infringements of those rights. Central to the Bill is the appointment of a disability commissioner to investigate complaints against service providers. An exciting concept in the Bill is the establishment of a disability advocacy service. The Bill also provides for a code of disability rights and for the assessment by health boards of the needs of persons with a disability in accordance with the provisions of the code of disability rights. If implemented the code would lead to considerable improvements in the rights of persons with a disability and the vindication of those rights.
The Labour Party spokesperson, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, wants to go further and guarantee the
rights of persons with a disability to full participation in society by proposing an amendment to the Constitution. The Government has failed to deliver in the provision and vindication of rights of persons with a disability. After almost four and a half years we are still awaiting the promised comprehensive disabilities Bill, while it has rejected the Bill before the House.
The National Parents and Siblings Alliance has taken an important initiative in drafting the Bill which is obviously the product of much thought, hard work and professional drafting. In its amendment to the motion for a second reading the Government dismisses the Bill on the basis that it proposes bringing forward legislative proposals which will be wider in scope than those contained in the Bill before the House. The Minister will understand why I treat this commitment with the utmost scepticism. The amendment in effect attacks the National Parents and Siblings Alliance by rejecting the Bill as being based on a philosophy of segregation and separation of people with disabilities and not taking full account of the policy of mainstreaming services for people with disabilities. Does the Minister, the Government, Fianna Fail and PD backbenchers and the Independent Deputies who support the Government really believe what is contained in the amendment, which is designed to insult and offend rather than unify in the interests of all persons with a disability? I think not. It is not too late for the Government to allow the Bill pass Second Stage tonight and it could be amended on Committee Stage. What has the Government to fear in doing this if it is really going to produce a superior Bill during its lifetime which will be passed into law before the next general election?