Ireland should move quickly to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr John Douglas has said.
Speaking at the annual Congress Disability Seminar in Dublin, Mr Douglas said that Ireland was just one of just three EU member states that have yet to ratify the Convention, the other two being Finland and the Netherlands.
'the Convention explicitly provides for a prohibition on all discrimination on the basis of disability and the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others. If we are to seriously address these issues, then the Convention provides an ideal starting point and Congress is calling on the Government to ratify it at the earliest possible opportunity," Mr Douglas said.
He said that the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill 2013 - published in July - had been identified as a key step ahead of ratifying the Convention.
"Congress hopes that this legislation will move quickly through the system so that we can ratify the Convention without delay and get on with implementing the commitments it contains.
The theme for the 2103 Congress Disability Seminar is Decent Work for People with Disabilities.
Mr Douglas explained that approximately 850 million people with disabilities across the world are of working age, but face discrimination when it comes to accessing equal job opportunities.
"We must all work to promote an inclusive approach to employment by focusing on a person's competencies, talents and skills. We need to increase disability awareness within the business community and improve the opportunities for persons with disabilities in terms of training and employment opportunities, now and into the future
Mr Douglas said that Congress had been instrumental in negotiating a code of conduct for the employment of people in Sheltered Workshops and had sought an investigation when the code was 'shelved".
