Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 March 2018
293. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the measures he plans to implement to assist persons with disabilities following the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; his plans to sign up to the Optional Protocol of the Convention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12980/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe UN Convention provides that people with disabilities should have the same rights as everyone else and should be provided with the practical supports to make that aspiration a reality. It requires us to change our approach to services for people with disabilities by putting the person’s civil and human rights first and putting the resources in place to that end.
The Disability Miscellaneous Provisions Bill of 2016 along with a Bill to address deprivation of liberty issues should be enacted by the end of the year and if possible sooner. This is about ensuring that no one is deprived of their liberty without due cause and never just because the person has a disability. We do not currently have a legal framework to ensure that people in nursing homes and other residential accommodation are there appropriately and are free to leave if they wish and have the capacity to make that decision for themselves. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity Act) 2015 needs to be commenced which requires the Decision Support Service to become operational. An allocation of €3m has been provided in the 2018 budget for the establishment of the service.
In the meantime, we are continuing to take practical measures to improve the lives of people with disabilities. The Report of the Make Work Pay Group was published in April of last year and already action as announced by Minister Harris has been taken on its recommendations. We have a Comprehensive Employment Strategy in place and are working on positive action measures being taken to support public sector recruitment of people with disabilities. The Disability Inclusion Strategy was published in July 2017 and contains a wide range of practical commitments to improve the position of people with disabilities.
The amount allocated in disability budget for 2018 was 1.772 billion an increase of nearly 92 million on 2017, with an additional €10m announced for respite care in December last year.
While there was a commitment given, in the 2015 Roadmap, to ratify the Optional Protocol at the same time as the Convention, the current focus has been on ratifying the Convention itself as a first step. The Convention and the Optional Protocol cover a broad range of commitments some of which require substantive cultural change. Work is continuing on the reforms needed for Ireland's compliance with the Convention's requirements. For this reason, a phased approach is seen as the most practical and realistic way of moving ahead. Accordingly the Optional Protocol is not being ratified at this time but will be ratified as soon as possible, at the latest following completion of Ireland's first reporting cycle which will identify any actions needed with regard to compliance with the Convention.
