A two-day conference on independent living opens in Dublin today with campaigners claiming the Government has failed to live up to a United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled.
Opening the conference this morning, President Mary McAleese said Ireland was working towards a society in which independent living for people with disabilities "is as natural, as spontaneous, as mainstreamed as the air we breathe".
Recommendations from delegates will be sent to the new Government to assist them in implementing schemes to improve services and advance independent living in Ireland.
Ireland's 26 Centres for Independent Living have joined forces to call on the new Government to urgently implement the National Disability Strategy. They also want commitments made under article 19 of the UN Convention on the rights of People with Disabilities to be met.
The UN treaty adopted by Ireland in 2006 states that countries must recognise the equal rights of disabled people to have access to in-home, residential and community support services including personal assistance.
Eugene Callan, of the Dublin Centre for Independent Living, said demand was not being met. "The challenge in today's society is that State services and supports have not kept pace with demand," he said.
"Many people are still forced to stay in residential institutions and in family homes when clearly they could take charge of their own lives if the services were put in place."
He said more needs to be done to help people with a range of disabilities, and a "one size fits all" approach was no longer acceptable.
The 26 Centres for Independent Living lobbies on behalf of almost 125,000 people with disabilities.