Legislative Changes
It is the responsibility of the Irish State and the current government to provide full equality and all necessary supports for every person with a lived experience of disability in Ireland (including carers and families). The current Fine Gael-led government has dragged its heels ratifying and implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability (UNCRPD). This UN Convention recently received cabinet approval but the full implementation is still far from achieved, making Ireland the last EU country to fully ratify.
People Before Profit stands in solidarity with disability rights activists, and calls for the complete ratification of the UNCRPD, along with all other relevant legislation – a process that should include as a rule the full and decisive oversight of people with a lived experience of disability. As a matter of urgency, the government must
- Ensure that the ratification of the UNCRPD and all other relevant legislation, involving oversight by persons with a lived experience of disability.
- Establish a Joint Oireachtas Disability Inclusion Committee.
- Extend the Disability Act 2005 to include all persons with a disability. Currently only children born after June 2002 can access an assessment of their health needs under the Disability Act 2005.
- Enact Part II of the Disability Rights Act to entitle people to an assessment, which in turn would begin to supply the data/proof that government agencies claim to lack currently.
- Commence and implement all other legislation, including the Education of Persons with Special Education Needs Acts (2004) and the Assisted Decision-Making Act (2015)
- Introduce hate crime. Legislation.
- Ensure the full commencement of the Citizens Information Act 2007 (which allows disability advocates to enter residential services and make enquires about vulnerable adults), and establish a National Advocacy Authority
- Establish a National Respite Strategy to address ad hoc provision of respite care across Ireland
- Extend the funding supports for people with disabilities in education to part time students
- Ensure that people with a disability make up at least 3% of the workforce at any one time
