Sinéad Gibney

Chief commissioner Sinéad Gibney told the Oireachtas disability matters committee that she is increasingly concerned about delays in implementation and reporting under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Commission has written to Equality Minister Roderic O’Gorman and Anne Rabbitte, the minister of state with responsibility for disability, to propose an annual statement to the Dáil on Ireland’s progress, beginning this year.

Ms Gibney and Commissioner member Adam Harris, who is also vice-chair of the Commission’s disability advisory committee, have also called on the State to bring forward ratification of the Convention’s optional protocol, which establishes a complaints mechanism.

Ireland is one of only three EU member states not to have either signed or ratified the optional protocol, along with Poland and the Netherlands.

Ms Gibney said: “The Commission is concerned about delays around Ireland’s progress in CRPD implementation and accountability. The importance of visible progress to people with disabilities and their organisations, who campaigned and worked to see this Convention ratified, cannot be overstated.

“The making of an annual statement to the Dáil on Ireland’s progress in implementing the UNCRPD would be a hugely positive signal, and a demonstrable commitment to meeting Ireland’s international obligations to people with disabilities.

“Considering Ireland’s delays in reporting to the UN and an anticipated lengthy UN examination delay once the State report is submitted, the Commission suggests that the State’s plan to ratify the Optional Protocol after the first reporting cycle needs to be reconsidered and brought forward.”