Buildings in Donegal will today be lighting up for the Purple Lights 20 campaign for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Mr. Gary Kearney wrote to me in October and asked for my assistance in bringing about the campaign. My friend and well-known outstanding disability rights activist, Mr. Frank Larkin, had been due to help Gary with the campaign for Donegal, but sadly Frank passed away earlier this year. I acknowledge Frank Larkin and the great advocacy work he did in his lifetime for persons with disabilities. I also thank Mr. Liam Ward, director of services in Donegal County Council, for supporting this Purple Lights campaign this year.

In the spirit of nothing about us without us, I wanted to give persons with disabilities an opportunity to have their say. Last Friday, I launched a survey and want to read to the Tánaiste some of the overwhelming number of responses that I have received. I thank Mr. Micheál Kelliher for signing my short video about the survey. One response read:

Disability services are working at reduced capacity due to the fact that HSE staff are being taken from these services to accommodate the need for additional staff for Covid wards/testing centres etc.

Another read:

You don't notice what you have lost until it's gone. For those of us with an acquired disability there is a continuous and overwhelming desire to 'get back to where we were'. Even after decades we remember what it is like to negotiate the world without pain; the pre-planning of journeys; anticipating distances; nodding to the looks of sympathy when the pain is visible - yet wishing they didn't acknowledge at all.

Another read:

I’m a disabled driver living in rural Ireland no transport no choice. I work in my nearest town & had to borrow to purchase my car. I’m one of the lucky ones, I’m earning a salary and can afford to pay a loan. It’s demoralising to watch this government allocate millions to bail out the FAI and most recently grant millions to the greyhound industry but if you have a disability you are not supported.

Another read:

As someone who acquired disability in my 20s and now a wheelchair user I think that is what will surprise people most. Most people assume if this happens you will be supported by government in fact you are not.

Another read:

There needs to be legislation introduced to force businesses to become accessible and have appropriate toilet facilities. This is a human rights and dignity issue. Imagine going for a meal with a group of people and you have no use of toilet facilities. What do you do? Limit fluid intake? Go home early?

Another read:

Well on behalf of my wee man, I would like to highlight the complete lack of consideration given to disabled toilet facilities in public places, i.e. hotels, restaurants etc. The bare minimal amount of space is given. Is it too much to ask for proper spacious bathroom facilities for our disabled folk?

Another read: "Silent pain’s the worst."

In my #YourDayYourSay survey, I asked the question: “As a person with a disability... what is positive about being in Ireland?” The responses included: “The doctors”; “Good doctors but no help from government.”; “There is very little positive. Everything has to be fought for.”; “All negative.”; and "Honestly I’m not sure.”

I asked them what needs to change. One response read:

They need to act not just sign Conventions and then ignore the principles. They know the disabled are stuck at home & couldn't even get to a protest which makes the State all the more hypocritical.

Another read: "To treat all our children equally and provide the same opportunities to all including those with additional needs[.]"

I will ask for something that the Government can do. Will the Government ratify the optional protocol of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities so that persons with disabilities can make complaints to the UN if they want to?

It is an important day on which the Deputy raises these disability issues. I thank him for raising them and I would be interested in seeing a copy of that survey if he wants to pass it on to my office later on.

When I was elected Taoiseach three years or so ago, one of the things I said we would do on the first day I was elected was ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It had not been ratified for decades by previous governments and there was always an excuse as to why it could not be done. I said it had to be done and, working with Finian McGrath, we got it done. I am glad we got it done.

It was always our intention to sign the optional protocol as well and it still is but we have to do it at the right time, when we are ready, and make sure we do it in a way that is meaningful. Many countries ratify conventions and it stops there. We do it the other way around in Ireland. We make sure we can meet the standards of the convention before we sign, which we did when it came to that convention. The same will apply when it comes to signing the optional protocol.

It is right to acknowledge that much progress has been made in recent years, such as increases in the disability allowance and changes to make it easier for people with disabilities to take part in the workplace, particularly around keeping the free travel pass and the medical card if they take up work and if they can. Remote working will be a real opportunity for people with disabilities to get into the workforce who could not before. There has been a huge increase in resources for special education. Not that long ago, there were almost no special needs assistants. Now we have 15,000, 16,000 or 17,000, I think. These are huge numbers and are much needed. It has really transformed education for people with special needs. The same applies to special classes in schools. There are hundreds where there used to be a handful.

In terms of spend, which the Deputy mentioned, the spend across the Departments of Social Protection, Education and Health runs to many billions of euro. I think it may be as much as €5 billion a year. That is many multiples of what we spend helping the FAI or greyhounds and rightly so because people with disabilities in this country are numerous, important and much more valuable than those other things, important as they are.

Another take on our slowness in ratifying the UN convention would be that we just wanted to drag our heels. Other countries ratified the convention straight away and it may have set a benchmark for them to make sure they could achieve it. I would love to think we will ratify the optional protocol. What is the timeframe for that? I would like to know because I do not believe the Government intends to do it and, unfortunately, I do not believe people with disabilities think the Government intends to do it either, which is sad.

We know the budget for disability services and the work that is being done for persons with disabilities but it is not enough. There are people being left behind, ignored and neglected. I ask the Tánaiste to listen to their voices. I will conclude with some of their voices:

People with disabilities are human too, we have feelings, we have needs, we deserve respect for what we live with and [live] through.

Another says:

Children and families are falling through ruptures, not cracks [in relation to the assessment of need]. A two year wait for Occupational Therapy for a child is just not ok.

Those are the kind of things we need to respond to, and to do so properly.

I will speak to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about the timelines but it is something we intend to do. There are many countries, for example, in eastern Europe, that nobody would argue have better conditions or services for people with disabilities than Ireland and they signed the convention ten and 20 years ago because they just signed it. Our approach has always been different to every convention of the UN. We do not just sign it. We make sure we meet or at least approach the standards and then we sign it. That is what we did in the last Government. We took the decision that we would do it when it was not done by previous government, and to reach that standard. The same will apply to the optional protocol, which it is our intention to sign.

Among the commitments in the programme for Government, which we are driving forward, are reducing the waiting times for assessment of need under the Disability Act 2005, which are unacceptably long; completing the establishment of progressing disability services for children and young people aged zero to 18; and enshrining disability rights by finalising the legislation required to make sure we are in line with the convention.