Adoption of disability rights convention only the start of process says Bree
The Dail’s ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was only the beginning of a process, according to the Chairperson of Sligo County Council’s Disability Consultative Committee, Cllr Declan Bree .
“The Convention maps out a very wide-ranging set of requirements along with measurable implementation mechanisms.
“The aim of these is to improve the lives of people with disabilities across the whole of society, including in the context of economic life, social life, political involvement, independent living in the community, transport, housing and many other policy areas.
“Ratification without sufficient resources and without full legislative implementation will threaten its progress and the benefits it is to provide for people with disabilities.
“The fact that it took such a lengthy period of time to ratify the Convention speaks volumes about the attitude of successive Irish governments. Ireland is the last of the 27 E.U. states to ratify the Convention which was adopted by the U.N. back in 2006.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities in Ireland.
“Many people with disabilities face severe economic pressures - about half of people with disabilities have extra costs associated with their disability and figures show that people with disabilities are at almost twice the risk of living in poverty as the general population.
“There is also a serious lack of appropriate, accessible private and social housing available for people with disabilities along with a lack of accessible and readily available transport and parking. In addition people with disabilities have great difficulty finding and retaining employment.
“In this context it is now of the utmost importance that the Government establish an advisory committee with people with disabilities to support the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, in monitoring the implementation of the Convention.
“The significant role of people with disabilities in the monitoring and evaluation process of the convention cannot be understated,” said Cllr Bree.