Decisions on disability are being taken without proper information on the prevalence of the condition, the National Disability Authority warned yesterday.
The authority, which works on behalf of the State to promote the rights of people with disabilities, has called for a national study to help inform policy and service planning in the area.
Ms Claire O'Connor, the authority's director, said: "At present we have only a partial picture of the prevalence and impact of disability in Ireland and, as a consequence, decisions are being made without the proper information.
"A national study would allow a comprehensive picture of the experience of the participation of adult and children with disabilities in, or exclusion from, all aspects of Irish life."
The authority is seeking to have a small number of questions on disability included in the next census for the first time.
It says a decision on whether to include such questions is required immediately as planning for the census in 2006 is already under way. If these questions are not included, the next opportunity for a census-related study would be in 2011, it said.
The calls are similar to those made by the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities in 1996, whose report was accepted by the government of the time.
Meanwhile, the Government is expected to face strong criticism at an international conference today over delays in publishing the long-awaited Disability Bill.
The three-day conference on initiatives against discrimination of people with intellectual disabilities will hear contributions from a range of speakers, including some from the accession states.
Ms Deirdre Carroll of the National Association of the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland will tell the conference that the Government is afraid to give people with disabilities rights in law to specific services.
She said fears that rights would lead to "huge sums of money" being spent on disability services were similar to opinions voiced before the introduction of the equal pay directive for women in the 1970s.
