A SENIOR United Nations official has said this is not the time for the Government to run “at half mast” its commitment to a national disability strategy.
UN special rapporteur on disability Shuaib Chalklen told an international conference hosted by NUI Galway (NUIG) yesterday that the recession presented “no excuse” for failing to meet commitments.
However, he also urged disability groups to continue to shout as the international experience was that “those who shout the loudest get the most” in terms of financial commitment.
Mr Chalklen said there were attempts at contraction of commitment by governments all over the world during the downturn. It was particularly challenging in his native South Africa, with a much larger population, and a “new democracy and a new system of local government”.
Some 20 African states were among some 97 countries that had ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), he noted.
Ireland was one of the first countries to sign the convention in 2007, but progress towards ratification is ongoing, Dr Eilionoir Flynn, researcher at NUIG’s Centre for Disability Law and Policy, told the conference.
This ratification is occurring in tandem with the implementation and monitoring processes for the national disability strategy. Citing best practice in other states, Dr Flynn noted the advantages of openness and participation.
“Ireland’s strategy can be reframed and adapted to address the concerns of people with disabilities especially in the current economic climate, and in a manner which is consistent with the principles of the CRPD,”she said.
“Many of the examples of best practice . . . demonstrate that it is possible to achieve change in a cost-effective manner without compromising on the ideal of empowering people with disabilities,” she said. “The most pressing challenge now facing the disability sector and government decision-makers alike is to reach consensus on the change . . . and to work in partnership to achieve this change,”she said.
National Disability Authority director Siobhán Barry said while there was concern Ireland’s ratification of the UN convention could be achieved without delay, many provisions were in place – under equality legislation, for example.
While Ireland was experiencing difficult economic times, it was “essential” the impetus of the national strategy be maintained, and that disability remained “high on the agenda”, she said.
Disability Federation of Ireland chief executive John Dolan told the conference public service reform was essential to delivery of the national strategy. The organised disability movement was truly here to stay, he said, and would grow further. However, the movement had to be focused and up to the task of “effectively engaging with government on behalf of people with disabilities”.
Earlier this week, the federation said the €8 per week cut in income supports, as announced in the Budget, was a “serious blow to disabled people and their families”.
“The Government has long acknowledged that people with disabilities have extra costs in relation to their ordinary day-to-day living on items such as food, heating, clothing, and transport,” Mr Dolan reiterated yesterday.
“This further cut comes on top of the 6 per cent last year and is again being made on means-tested income,” he noted.
“It must be remembered disabled people are subject to cuts in general and to the extra demands being made on their income. There is no evidence here of protection for this vulnerable group and this will bring more disabled people into poverty,” he warned.