Disability convention ratification
Gerry Adams asked why the UN disability convention had still not been ratified, given earlier Government promises. The Taoiseach said Cabinet had approved the next legislative steps and that a further statement on ratification would follow in the coming days.
Tá ceist agam faoin UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016. When I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in September, he said it was the Government's intention to ratify the UN convention by the end of the year and preferably by 3 December, which was the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, but that date has passed without ratification. This morning the media reported that the Minister of State with responsibility for disability issues, Deputy Finian McGrath, who told us a year and a half ago that it would be ratified within six months, was going to Cabinet to ask for an intensification of efforts to do what was promised in September. Will the Taoiseach clarify the outcome of this morning's discussions and his current expectation on ratification?
Comment on this
The Deputy will be pleased to know that we are making good progress in this area. We agreed at Cabinet this morning to publish the heads of the Bill on deprivation of liberty. This was one of the next big steps to be taken to allow us to ratify the convention. Cabinet did not get all of its business done this morning so we will reconvene this afternoon. I anticipate that, as a consequence, the Minister of State, Deputy McGrath, will be able to make a positive statement with regard to our ratification of the UN Convention for Persons with Disabilities. I hope we will be able to make that statement in the next couple of days.
Comment on this
On the same matter, the Taoiseach will be aware that the Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill passed Second Stage in February. It has been on Committee Stage for nine months. For nine months, we have been awaiting the very thing he has now announced, which is for the Minister of State to bring forward amendments that were promised. When various Members of this House raised the ratification of the convention, we were repeatedly told that, unlike other countries, we do not ratify until all the legislation is in place. The weekend press said that we will have a sort of fake ratification, that is, we would do it in advance of legislation. I, therefore, have two very simple questions for the Taoiseach. Will he confirm that the position held by successive Governments that, in order that they have a meaningful signing, we do not ratify UN conventions until all the legislation provision is in place still holds? Will the Minister of State bring to this House the amendments to deal with the legislative barrier to final ratification before Christmas? I think the Taoiseach will find a willingness across the House to sit on a Monday or whenever the Government might need to do this so that we can formally ratify the convention by the end of this year.