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Minister Rabbitte announces new membership of Disability Stakeholders Group and funding for the Disability Participation and Consultation Network
To mark this year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, T.D., and Minister Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., and Minister Anne Rabbitte, T.D., will turn the Leinster House Obelisk purple for the fourth year of the ‘Purple Lights’ campaign. Miesian Plaza, the headquarters of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the Department of Health, will also turn purple to mark the day.
The campaign aims to throw a literal spotlight on disability inclusion and invites people and organisations to join in by turning lights purple and increasing the visibility of persons with disabilities. People are also encouraged to wear purple on the day and to show their support in any way possible.
In marking the day, the Ministers noted the critical importance of visibility for persons with disabilities, the incredible contribution to Irish life made by persons with disabilities, and restated their commitment to addressing challenges and barriers to full participation and inclusion.
The theme of this year’s International Disability Day is “Leadership and participation of persons with disabilities toward an inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world.”
Both Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to take forward the lessons learned during the pandemic and to continue to empower persons with disabilities to lead on the matters that most affect them.
Recognising the importance of participation and leadership, the Minister of State with Special Responsibility for Disability, Anne Rabbitte T.D., today also announced the appointment of the new membership of the Disability Stakeholders Group (DSG) and that funding and support for the Disability Participation and Consultation Network is being continued in 2022.
The Disability Stakeholders Group plays an important role in the review
and implementation of the National Disability Inclusion Strategy (NDIS) 2017 – 2021 (extended to 2022) as well as contributing to the State’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The new group comprises 26 members, which includes individuals with a lived experience of disability, representatives of Disabled Persons Organisations, and representatives of organisations for disabled people.
In announcing the appointments, Minister Rabbitte thanked all members of the outgoing Group for their valued contribution over the past three years.
In addition, Minister Rabbitte announced that the Disability Participation and Consultation Network will continue to be funded and supported in 2022 to engage people with disabilities in the development and implementation of national policy and legislation. The Network was a key vehicle for engaging persons with disabilities in the consultations on Ireland’s Initial State Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with a Disability (UNCRPD) earlier this year.
On the announcements today, Minister Rabbitte said:
“The need for not only full and equal participation by persons with disabilities, but leadership too, is a message that I hear daily in my work as Minister, and one that resonates strongly with me. It is the essence of ‘nothing about us without us’ - which has so powerfully driven change in how we think about disability and how we move forward as a society. Alongside Minister O’Gorman, I am determined to build on the progress and momentum that we have made here in Ireland and to continue to drive forward in addressing the challenges and barriers that remain for persons with disabilities.
“I am delighted to be able to mark International Disability Day and, in the spirit of this year’s theme in particular, to be able to announce a new membership of the Disability Stakeholders Group and continued support of the Disability Participation and Consultation Network. I look forward to working with DSG6 and the Network on the important issues facing us.”
Minister O’Gorman said:
"I am delighted to be able to shine a literal spotlight on the incredible contribution made to Irish life by people with disabilities, and to affirm Government’s commitment to progress on inclusion and giving a platform to people with disabilities. I was very happy to ensure my Department’s offices did their part and went purple again this year.
"Last month I secured cabinet approval for the General Scheme of an Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill, which allow us to abolish wardship by June of next year and hand more independent control back to individuals over their own lives.
"We will all have to take the lessons learned over the pandemic and look at not just the challenges, but also the opportunities for the future. For persons with disabilities, some developments like the move to online engagement has improved access and participation, but at the same time I know that Covid has produced challenges that have disproportionately affected people with disabilities and we will continue to work to address those.
"I look forward to working with the new DSG and the Network members and would encourage everyone to join us in this year’s purple lights campaign.”
The Ceann Comhairle said:
“I am pleased to be able to direct the participation of Leinster House in this year’s Purple Lights campaign, and to highlight the International Day of People with Disabilities. It is important that we show just how central and fundamental an issue to national parliament the rights of people with disabilities are, and like Minister O’Gorman and Minister Rabbitte I encourage anyone who can join us to do so.”
ENDS