The Irish Human Rights Commission has expressed fresh concern at the Government's Disability Bill, which is due to be enacted in the coming weeks.
Dr Maurice Manning, the president of the commission, noted there had not been movement in addressing some of the most important issues relating to the human rights of people with disabilities.
The most important issues, he said, were putting in place adequate funding and provision of services that guaranteed the progressive realisation of rights for disabled people, and a guarantee that standards of services never fell below core minimum standards.
Dr Manning said this view was consistent with the commission's mission to ensure conformity between Irish law and our international legal obligations.
"The concern of the IHRC is to ensure that the legislation enacted by the Government will honour in as comprehensive a way as possible our international human rights obligations," Dr Manning said.
The Bill is due to complete its passage through the Oireachtas in the coming weeks.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the Bill, Frank Fahey, has signalled there will not be amendments to the core principles of the legislation.
A number of disability groups have pulled out of a Government-established consultation group in protest over the legislation.
In a submission to the Minister for Justice last November, the commission said the Bill was a "missed opportunity" to provide legislation that would meet the basic rights of disabled people.
The general exclusion of court proceedings was a central aspect of the legislation, it said.
Prof Gerard Quinn, a member of NUI Galway's law faculty and a member of the commission, said the Bill would narrow the grounds upon which a disabled person could go to court, especially regarding the provision of services.
