Kathleen Funchion demands timeline to ratify UN disability protocol
Kathleen Funchion spoke in parliament on 9 Jul 2020 about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and urged ratification of the Optional Protocol, saying failure to ratify amounts to failing people with a disability. She asked whether funding is included in the estimates and demanded a clear timeframe, citing delays and the impact of COVID on services such as adult day services and respite.
Opening remarks
She began by congratulating the minister, saying she has found the minister fair in previous roles and welcoming a young woman as the Minister for Justice, and expressed a desire to work constructively with the new minister.
Optional Protocol and rights
Funchion focused on human rights and equality, noting that while the State has passed the UN Convention, it has not ratified the Optional Protocol that would allow people with a disability to take complaints to the UN.
Service failures and COVID impact
She warned that failure to ratify is part of broader failings across services, citing recent calls for the reopening of adult day services with no date set, lengthy closures of respite in some areas, and ongoing battles for diagnosis, therapies, school places, transport and adult services.
Funding and timeline demanded
Funchion directly asked whether the money is included in the estimates to support ratification and requested a timeframe, noting previous assurances that ratification would follow and that the year is slipping by despite the COVID context.
Accountability and empowerment
She argued ratification would empower people with a disability and demonstrate the government's willingness to be held accountable, while voicing a concern that delays may reflect an anticipated volume of cases arising from failings in the sector.
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Thanks, Chair. First of all, I want to congratulate Minister McEntee and say I always found you to be extremely fair in your previous roles, so I genuinely wish you the best and look forward to working with you. I'm actually delighted to see that we have a young woman as our Minister for Justice. I think that's excellent. And congratulations as well to Minister McConnelogue. I'm going to focus my contribution in relation to the human rights and equality aspect of this, and particularly on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Persons with a Disability. And as we know, we have passed this, but despite this, we have not ratified the optional protocol which allows people with a disability to take a complaint to the UN about their rights. Now, due to the fact that we have not ratified this optional protocol, we are failing people with a disability in this country. And unfortunately, our government, the previous government, and it would seem already, the new government is failing people with a disability. All we need to do is look at the situation with COVID and how now today we saw calls and over the last number of weeks we saw calls for the reopening of adult day services. Yet we still have no date or time for when that might happen for people. And people who have a disability or family members or those who advocate on their behalf constantly describe it as a battle. You have to battle for a diagnosis. You have to battle for the various therapies you need. You have to battle for a school place. You then have to battle for transport often for that school place. You then have to battle for an adult day service. Again, transport for that service. So it's constant battling. And then for carers, it's a constant battle for any sort of support or assistance, particularly around respite. We have so many areas in this country where respite is absolutely non-existent. And unfortunately, my own constituency is an example of that, where I think we're five years now with respite closed. So these are all extremely serious and important issues. And I really hope the new government are actually going to do something about this and take it on board and not just pay lip service to it. So what I want to ask Minister is, is the money included in the estimates to ensure that the optional protocol will be ratified? And can we get a timeframe? Because last year we were told it wouldn't be ratified in 2019, but it would be in 2020. Now here we are in July, the year is slipping by. And you know, I know people will talk about COVID, but it can't be an excuse for absolutely everything. And we need a timeframe and a date for when this will be ratified. And I just want to make the point that if we're serious and if the government is serious about ensuring that people with a disability and their families and their carers are respected and given the adequate services that they need, then they will have no difficulty in ratifying this protocol because it empowers people and the government should be trying to empower people and trying to say we have nothing to hide. We want people to have the right if they feel they have, they feel they have the need to take a case against us. And my fear is, and I'm sure a lot of people in the sector would say this too, the reason it hasn't been ratified to date is because I imagine there'd be a huge amount of cases given all the failings in the sector. So I'd like to ask is the money going to be there this year to ensure that the optional protocol is ratified? Thanks Chair. Thanks, Chair.
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