Disability rights activists are outside the Dáil as we speak, and I am passing on their request to the Tánaiste. They want to know when the promised legislation to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will come before the House, be debated and ratified?

One of those outside made a very simple point to me, namely, that North Korea, a tin-pot dictatorship, has signed the convention, yet we have dragged our heels for the best part of a decade. Could the Tánaiste provide me with the details so that I give those outside an answer as to when, precisely, the Bill to deal with this matter will come before the House and the timescale for it to be concluded?

Some countries sign it, but they do not do very much.

I am sure that is true of North Korea.

We have consistently improved services for people with disabilities and have taken a huge range of actions to make a difference to the lives of people who have a disability. We want to sign the convention when we have done the required work. The Bill went to and was agreed by the Cabinet before Christmas. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, will take the Bill in the second week of February.