Ireland has a good reputation internationally for sponsoring issues of disability but it must learn to live up to that reputation at home, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Mrs Mary Robinson said that at international level, Ireland was playing a significant role. It "is the country that puts forward resolutions on issues of disability" and "is recognised as one of the few countries that has this high on the international agenda".
"That is all the more reason that Ireland must make every progress to live up to that reputation," she said. "If you're getting a reputation internationally, you have to live up to it nationally."
Mrs Robinson was speaking in Dublin on Saturday at the launch of a major report calling for a "radical new approach" to the representation of people with disabilities.
The report, "Advocacy: A Rights Issue" from the Forum of People with Disabilities, was published in advance of tomorrow's Cabinet meeting which is expected to approve the new Disability Bill. It is due to be published on Wednesday.
The report presents a strategy to give the disabled a voice and among its recommendations is a demand that advocacy should be identified and detailed in the legislation.
Any future Disability Act had to set the rights of disabled people into a legal framework, said its author, Ms Deborah Birmingham. There had to be a "package of legislation - those that prohibit discrimination such as the Disability Act and those requiring that positive action must be taken".
Human rights advocacy was aimed at providing ways for "vulnerable people to freely express themselves, gather and represent themselves and others".
Mrs Robinson launched the document at the Mountjoy Women's Prison, chosen as a venue to symbolise people living in a closed environment.
A 1996 report on a strategy for equality made key recommendations but "Government action to date has been abysmal - let's be clear. Enough is enough. Developing legislation and resourcing an independent advocacy system is not rocket science."
Mr Donal Toolan, the co-ordinator of the Forum of People with Disabilities, said that mainstream Irish society was still inaccessible and unwelcoming to people with disabilities. Echoing the commissioner's comments about Ireland's reputation abroad, he pointed out that three years ago the State won a UN award for its plan of action on disability but "three years later, it's still a plan".
