19. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the expected timeline for the review of the Disability Act 2005; the next stages following the current public consultation process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47386/26]

The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 commits to a broad legislative programme that recognises the need to review and update existing disability legislation, and as to consider where a need for new legislation may exist, particularly following Ireland’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). In line with this commitment, my Department has commenced a review of the Disability Act 2005.

The Disability Act is a wide-ranging piece of legislation that relates to the definition of disability, the assessment of needs (AON) process, accessible public buildings, universal design, the use of genetic data, public sector employment and more.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Disability (Amendment) Bill 2025 is currently being drafted and this proposes targeted reforms of Part 2 of the Disability Act to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the AON process. However, the full review of the Disability Act will be broader and include a detailed consideration of all parts of the 2005 Act.

As stated in the Strategy, the review will examine and update the statutory underpinning for whole-of-Government action on disability. It will also include consideration of the Programme for Government commitment to place an autism strategy on a legislative footing.

To inform this review, the Department is carrying out a public consultation process that will occur across two stages. Stage one of this process is a call for submissions in writing and other formats on the operation the Disability Act and potential reforms to enhance Ireland’s compliance with the UNCRPD. Stage one was launched on June 8th and will run for a period of three months, that is, until September 9th. Disabled people, their families, carers and representative groups have been invited to their insight, experience and expertise as part of this process.

Following the closure of the first stage of the consultation process, a range of online and in-person consultation events will take place. The consultation themes for these consultation events will be developed in conjunction with DPOs and other disability stakeholders and, insofar as practicable, be informed by the initial findings from the written consultation.

The outputs of these two stages in the consultation will be analysed in a consultation report which will be published in due course upon completion.

In parallel with this public consultation process, the National Disability Authority (NDA) is conducting research into good practices internationally in incorporating relevant UNCRPD obligations into domestic legislation.