A Dáil committee will today begin considering hundreds of amendments to the Government's Disability Bill which the Opposition and campaign groups have condemned as retaining a "charity" approach to disabled persons' rights.
Fine Gael and Labour yesterday promised to argue vigorously the case for major changes in the committee stage debate - the parliamentary stage at which amendments are considered in detail - which opens today.
While the Government has proposed some amendments in response to criticisms, the Opposition says these are too minor.
Rights groups strongly oppose the Bill in its current form. They say services for people with disabilities are based on a "charity" model, giving services to disabled people only where "resources permit" and where "practicable" rather than as a right.
Promising to "fight the committee stage of this Bill every inch of the way", Labour's spokeswoman Kathleen Lynch said yesterday that among other things her amendments will seek: an explicit commitment to rights in the Bill's title or introduction; a broader definition of disability; an unqualified right to an independent assessment of the needs of a person with a disability; that assessments would cover all a person's needs and not just health and educational needs; that funds for disability services would be properly ring-fenced; and that appeals be allowed to independent people with an ultimate right of recourse to the courts.
"Those with disabilities and organisations working in the sector had long looked forward to the introduction of disability legislation," she said, "but the Bill itself had proved to be a great disappointment and the refusal of the Government to acknowledge the need for substantial changes had caused great anger."
Fine Gael's spokesman David Stanton yesterday criticised what he said was "the complete silence of the Progressive Democrats on the Bill". The committee stage debate would mark "an important staging post in creating a fairer, more equal, more accessible society and genuinely living up to the high ideals of this Republic".
He said the PDs occupied the two most pivotal Cabinet positions in relation to disability - the Ministries of Justice and Health - yet they "have not uttered one word about the Disability Bill in a protracted debate.
"What does their silence mean? The PDs are quick to pontificate on every subject under the sun and yet on this, the most important piece of legislation in years for people with disabilities, they have nothing to say."
Human Rights Commission president Dr Maurice Manning has described the Bill as "defective" based on an analysis of international law.