The Taoiseach and the Minister of State at the Department of Justice will seek the agreement of disability groups to proposals to establish an independent appeals system, outside the court system, when they meet them on July 15th.
Following extensive debate within Government on the extent to which people with disabilities will have legally enforceable rights, the Bill from the Department of Justice will provide for a system for enforcing rights, based on assessments of needs, through an independent appeals system.
This will have the authority to order the provision of services identified as necessary in the assessment of needs. Such an assessment will be drawn up by independent therapists and will be provided for by the Education for Persons with Disability Bill. This will be published by the Department of Education this week.
The second, the Disability Bill, will provide for the appeals mechanism. This will be ready for publication by the opening of the next Dáil session, according to the Minister responsible, Mr Willie O'Dea, but may not be published until the Education for Persons with Disability Bill has been disposed of.
The appeals mechanism under consideration will have more power than an ombudsman, who only has moral authority, according to Mr O'Dea. But it will be lawyer-free, he said. It will be comparable to the Equality Tribunal, which has specialist officers who adjudicate on claims of discrimination in employment or in the provision of goods and services, or to the existing social welfare appeals officers.
It is not certain whether this will be acceptable to disability campaigners, especially as it is not envisaged that decisions from this system can be appealed to the courts. Decisions of the Equality Tribunal can be appealed to the Circuit Courts, although few are. Decisions of social welfare appeals officers cannot be appealed to the courts.
Disability campaigners are also likely to be concerned that any system put in place could be open to later reduction by amendment. Such concerns are widespread following the amendments to the Freedom of Information Act which reduced the right to access to information, and the decision to remove the right of the Equality Authority to adjudicate on discrimination concerning licensed premises.
People with disabilities will be able to avail of a system of advocacy before the proposed body, the Minister said. Again, the equality legislation provides a model, as the Equality Authority can provide advice and advocacy to people who claim discrimination.
However, here the right of advocacy will be automatic, and the people providing it will be specially trained in disability issues. "They will be far more effective than any lawyer," said Mr O'Dea.
The system will also be much cheaper. "The vast majority of the money will go to the people who need it," he said. "People say that people with disabilities are not interested in compensation. But once lawyers are in a system, there is litigation. Lawyers generate litigation.
"A lot of lawyers are secretly hopeful that this will be a rights Bill because the personal injuries racket is closing down and they are hoping another Aladdin's cave is opening up.
"The Government's objective in all this is to do something proper in the Year of People with Disabilities. We accept that a properly drafted Disability Bill will create a momentum for increased spending. If you provide for an independent assessment of needs, no government will face the embarrassment of people going around with an assessment of needs and no resources to fill them.
"But the reality is that the Government rations its resources, and there are different allocations within Departments. This has to be decided by Government, not by the courts on an ad-hoc basis."