People with Disabilities in Ireland
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Mr Boyle asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the extent to which he is pursuing the recommendations of the Disability Legislation Consultative Group's document, "Equal Citizens - Core Elements of Disability Legislation", released in February 2003. [13835/03]
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr McDowell):
The Disability Bill 2001 was published on 21 December 2001. Following concerns expressed by interest groups, the Government agreed to further consultations on future proposals for disability legislation, in particular the Disability Bill 2001. An expert consultation team was appointed in April 2002 to oversee the consultation process and comprised Ms Sylda Langford, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr John O' Donnell, Senior Counsel, Professor Brian Nolan, Economic and Social Research Institute, Mr Bernard Feeney, Senior Consultant, Goodbody's Economic Consultants, and Mr Brian Crowley, Member of the European Parliament.
In addition, a group representative of people with disabilities, their families, carers and service providers, the Disability Legislation Consultation Group, DLCG, was brought together by the National Disability Authority, NDA, to facilitate dialogue at national level, both within the sector and with the consultation team. The DLCG presented the document "Equal Citizens - Proposals for Core Elements of Disability Legislation" to the expert consultation team in early February 2003. Having met with and received the views of key stakeholders, including the DLCG, the social partners, the community and voluntary sector and relevant Government Departments, the consultation team completed its task in February 2003.
The process of overseeing the preparation of the revised Disability Bill has been referred by the Government to the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Social Inclusion in view of the complex and crosscutting issues which fall to be considered. The Cabinet sub-committee will play a key role in facilitating cross-departmental co-operation in the development of legislative proposals over the coming months. The DLCG document has remained an important input to deliberations as regards the content of the legislation at each stage of the process.
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