Next to speak are Deputies Margaret Murphy O'Mahony and Joan Burton. We will then move on.

My question is about the ratification of the UN convention. The Minister of State with responsibility, someone who is part of the Government, is planning to visit North Korea, but what many people do not know is that that dictatorship is far ahead of Ireland in terms of ratification of the convention. Will the Minister of State be seeking advice from the North Koreans during his visit or will he actually do the job in hand in Ireland and have the convention ratified before the end of the year, as we were guaranteed? The same was guaranteed last year, but it did not happen.

I am not sure whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has ratified the convention-----

It has.

-----but there are many countries that do not treat people with disabilities very well and in which they have fewer rights and services than here. However, they have ratified the convention. In itself that tells the story - different countries adopt a different approach. Most countries just ratify and then forget about it. We do something very different and something much better, as we actually honour and then ratify it.

We need to have it ratified.

It is absolutely our intention to ratify it as soon as we possibly can.