The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste have been urged to meet representatives of people with disabilities in the State in an attempt to prepare the way for a Disabilities Bill.
A meeting of several hundred people in Limerick was told that a report from the Commission on People with Disabilities was presented to the Government in 1996, with a main recommendation that a Disabilities Bill should be implemented. However, nothing had happened since.
The chairman of the Limerick Parents and Friends Association of the Mentally Handicapped, Mr Ger South, said that Government politicians and Independent TDs, including Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, were backing the call for a meeting with Mr Ahern and Ms Harney to ask them to introduce a Disabilities Bill.
The Limerick meeting followed the Supreme Court's decision not to uphold continuing primary education rights for Mr Jamie Sinnott, a 23-year-old autistic man.