Coalition embarrassed - Policy on disability must change

CRITICISM of the Government for fighting attempts to provide rights for disabled people is acutely embarrassing for the Coalition as Ireland prepares to host the Special Olympics.

Nor can this charge be easily dismissed as it comes from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, who cites Irish officials at the UN as resisting a global plan aimed at ending discrimination and strengthening the rights of disabled people and minorities.

It would be deplorable if Ireland were to adopt a negative approach towards the disabled, who have had to fight an uphill battle for their rights in this country. Such a policy should immediately be reversed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who is also attending the summit in Johannesburg where former Mrs Robinson made her remarks.

Ironically, despite being embarrassed into withdrawing its widely-criticised Disability Bill just before the election, the Government is strongly supporting the 2003 Special Olympics.

But some disabled campaigners describe this as “gross hypocrisy” when the Coalition is failing to address the rights of disabled people on its own doorstep. Anything less than full government support for a rights-based approach to disabled people at home and internationally would be a betrayal of some of the most vulnerable in society.