Our Work and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

All the work we do at the NDA is informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It’s an international human rights treaty that exists to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all disabled persons.

The Convention applies established human rights principles from the UN Declaration on Human Rights to persons with disabilities. The Convention is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Irish Government signed the Convention in 2007, and ratified it in March 2018. Ireland’s initial state report under the UNCRPD was issued to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in November 2021.

The UNCRPD contains 50 Articles in total, and 26 Articles cover all areas of life, including:

  • Health

  • Education

  • Employment

  • Equal Recognition before the Law

  • Freedom from Exploitation, Violence and Abuse

  • Accessibility

  • Living Independently and being Included in the Community

The Convention also offers intersectional perspectives. For example, there are Articles on women with disabilities and children with disabilities.

To ensure that people with disabilities enjoy the same human rights as everyone else, Article 33 of the UNCRPD required an independent monitoring mechanism to be established. It monitors the progress of the Government in improving its laws, policies and essential services. This ensures people with disabilities enjoy the same human rights as everyone else.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) is the independent monitoring mechanism for the Convention in Ireland. Pending legislation, the NDA will provide information and statistics to IHREC to assist in its monitoring role.

Our Corporate Publications

We endeavour to reach the highest standards in our work. We produce reports about all our activities annually. We develop a new Strategic Plan every three years to ensure that our work remains relevant to the changing disability policy and practice landscape.

Our current Strategic Plan is running from 2022 to 2024. There are five strategic priorities included in our current Strategic Plan and they are:

  1. Deliver independent evidence-informed advice and guidance, support policy coordination, advance implementation of national strategies and policies and meet the goals of UNCRPD

  2. Deliver an independent assessment, monitoring and evaluation of the progress of policies, strategies and codes of practice across Government

  3. Advance activities to promote awareness and acceptance of Universal Design across Ireland

  4. Foster strong and open processes for engaging and consulting with people with disabilities and the wider disability community

  5. Maintain and enhance organisational effectiveness

If you would like to learn more about what we’re doing to help improve the lives of people with disabilities in Ireland, then browse our reports by selecting the relevant link.

Freedom of Information

The NDA’s publication scheme is prepared under section 8 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014.

Vacancies

Would you like to become part of our team? Take a look at our current vacancies and apply online.

Tenders

The NDA publishes all Requests for Tenders on the eTenders procurement website.

Finances

Find information about Prompt Payment and Purchase Orders greater than €20,000.

About the National Disability Authority

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