Ten years after signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), Ireland plans on finally voting to ratify the convention in February of this year.
Out of the total 174 countries to sign and ratify the convention, Ireland remains the only EU country left to ratify it, after signing it on the first day it was possible to do so in March 2007. Signing the convention displays a desire to ratify, but does not bind the country to it by any means. In ratifying the convention, Ireland will be bound to it by international law.
Why has it taken the government so long to ratify?
Since the signing of the convention and during the ten years that have followed, it has been said numerous times by numerous government officials that the government would ratify. After signing it, the then Minister for Justice Michael McDowell stated that his country would ratify it ‘as soon as possible.’ Minister of State with Responsibility for Disabilities Finian McGrath said in May 2016 that Ireland would ratify the convention within six months, he is a father to a child living with a disability. Obviously, this was an overly ambitious target.
The main dilemma for such a slow ratification process appears to be legislation.
Ireland has stated that it needed to wait until all of the country’s laws were sufficiently compliant with the convention so as to make it legally viable. Ireland’s current laws are the roadblocks in the way of ratification, and the cause of the drawn-out ten years waiting period.
Don’t hold your breath, Ireland has a reputation for being meticulous when it comes down to ratifying UN Conventions. For example, it took eight years for Ireland to ratify the Convention against Corruption, and three years to ratify the Convention against Doping in Sport.
Why is it so important for Ireland to ratify this convention?
First drafted in 2006, the convention fundamentally aims for nations to grant equal status to people living with disabilities, like adequately catering to wheelchair users on public transport for example. The convention’s purpose is ‘to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.’
The convention covers an assortment of protection and necessities for disabled people like rights to education, health, and work. Frankly, it is shameful that the Irish government have not worked with the speed necessary to ratify this convention and to grant equal status to its many let-down citizens living with disabilities.
