Ireland ‘can’t afford’ to honour UN convention

INTERNAL Government papers show that even when the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is finally ratified in Ireland, the health service cannot actually afford to deliver on its promises.

This week, hundreds of people gathered outside the Dáil to protest against the 10-year wait for ratification of the convention, which Ireland signed in 2007.

The Government is not bound by the conditions of the Convention until it is ratified – and is now the only European country not to have done so.

This comes as the Government confirms recruitment has not yet started for a key person to make sure anything actually happens after ratification.

But while supporters of the Convention insist that ratification would improve the lives of the estimated 600,000 people with disabilities in Ireland, a briefing note prepared for Health Minister Simon Harris is much less certain.

Written in October 2016 by the Department’s Services for Older People unit, it says: ‘Even with ratification in place, it should also be noted that the health system as currently structured does not have the capacity to deliver the provisions now proposed without significant additional resources.’

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health refused to confirm or deny whether extra funding would be needed to work with the Convention when it is ratified.

The Convention guarantees rights taken for granted by ablebodied people, such as being able to choose where you live or who you live with. It could also put an end to practices by State bodies such as train companies asking for 24-hour notice from wheelchair users.