Disability and human rights conference: The Disability Bill came in for sustained criticism at a conference on disability and human rights in Galway at the weekend. Organised jointly by the faculty of law in NUI Galway and the Equality Authority, it brought together legal experts and disability campaigners.
The mayor of Galway, Ms Catherine Connolly, said: "It is clear that the realisation of the rights set forth in the Bill will be contingent on funding. While there appears to be good-faith intention to make funding available in the immediate term, the legislation will do little to guarantee the necessary funding on a sustained basis."
This could be dealt with by a more forceful enforcement apparatus than that provided for in the Bill, she said.
"If the Government is serious about its capacity to listen to and hear what people want, it must take on board reasonable proposals for the improvement of the Disability Bill that are likely to be made in the coming weeks and months," Ms Connolly said.
Mr Donncha O'Connell, lecturer in law in NUI Galway, said: "An administrative game of snakes and ladders dressed up as an independent complaints system is no alternative to the vindication of rights by an independent and impartial court.
"Recourse to the courts only becomes an issue when the rights set forth in any legislation are violated.
"If we have reached the stage where it is legitimate to belittle the right of access to a court on the basis that the exercise of this right entails some commensurate financial spin-off for lawyers, we are truly in danger of impoverishing a vital force in democratic life - the judicial enforcement of human rights."
Describing the publication of the Disability Bill last week as "a lot spun, much more to do," Mr O'Connell said it should be seen as the beginning and not the end of a dialogue between the disability rights movement and the State.
Ms Shivaun Quinlivan, lecturer in law in NUI Galway, said there was a fundamental difference between the attitude to equality within European law and that adopted by the Irish Government.
"The method the European Union has adopted to enforce equality is by means of a legal right, a right not to be discriminated against, a right to reasonable accommodation, a right not to be harassed, a right not to be victimised. Where an employer or service provider is not in compliance with this right to equality, the employee or service receiver may seek redress in the courts.
"This approach differs significantly from the approach adopted in the Disability Bill just published. Here access to the courts is only available if one can overcome the sentinels that guard its doors - the appeals officer, and then only in specific circumstances."
Referring to the argument that the money available should go to people with disabilities and not to lawyers, Ms Quinlivan said: "Access to the courts would only be necessary in the context of non-compliance with a requirement under the legislation. Does the Minister [of State, Mr Willie O'Dea] already believe that they won't comply? If the various bodies, such as the health boards, comply, there is no question of litigation."