Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2023
54. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions he is taking to establish a national DPRO register to ensure all consultations on matters regarding disability are carried out in accordance with general comment 7 of the UNCRPD; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48529/23]
View answerI ask the Minister of State to set out the actions being taken to establish a register of national disabled persons representative organisations, DPROs, to ensure all consultations on matters regarding disability are carried out in accordance with general comment 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD; and to make a statement on the matter.
I greatly value the role played by disabled persons organisations, DPOs, in representing the living experience of people with disabilities in Ireland. This is crucial to the development, implementation and monitoring of law, policy and human rights in Ireland. DPOs are explicitly recognised in the UNCRPD through Articles 4(3), 33(3), and General Comment No.7.
In response to the Deputy's question, there are no immediate plans for the development of a register or a related specific policy on the categorisation of DPOs. My Department engages with a range of stakeholders and uses the language of the UNCRPD as the basis for those engagements, including in relation to DPO status.
This encompasses engagement with DPOs in particular but also with other important voices, such as individuals with disabilities, experts by experience and other kinds of disability organisations.
My Department will continue to engage closely with DPOs through a number of important consultation mechanisms including the disability stakeholders group and the disability participation and consultation network, DPCN. The latter has a specific DPO pillar which my Department has funded since its establishment in 2020. The network has promoted capacity building among its membership and participated in a number of significant consultation exercises with a range of Departments. In line with the State's policy of continuous advancement regarding the UNCRPD and acknowledging the work and clear value added by the DPCN, I have requested that the National Disability Authority, NDA, review the operation of the DPCN to date, with a view to identifying any areas of potential improvement based on lessons learned. I look forward to considering the NDA report and any potential next steps regarding consultation and engagement structures when that report is finalised and submitted to me, which, I expect, will occur in the coming weeks. Any potential next steps will need to be progressed in partnership with DPOs, disabled persons and other key stakeholders.
I call Deputy Tully for a final contribution.
General comment 7 of the UNCRPD is clear. DPROs must be consulted by public bodies, local authorities, etc., on issues relating to disability. Many of them consult with disability organisations, but these are not necessarily DPROs. We need a register of DPOs, with a criterion indicating what a DPO is and an outline of the different categories of disability, namely, whether it is physical or intellectual or whether it relates to someone who is visually impaired or deaf or hard of hearing.
Nothing about us without us is what we have to go by. The UNCRPD is clear that people with disabilities and the organisations that represent them must be consulted. There must be meaningful engagement rather than the box-ticking that many organisations engage in.
