Irish Disability Legislation
This section provides links to some of the main pieces of legislation related to disability in Ireland.
European Policy and Legislation
This section provides information on the disability landscape in Europe regarding policies, legislation, strategies and covenants.
International Policy and Legislation
This section provides information on the disability landscape internationally regarding policies, legislation, strategies and covenants.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is an international human rights treaty, which exists to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all disabled persons. It was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and opened for signature on 30 March 2007.
The Convention applies established human rights principles from the UN Declaration on Human Rights to the situation of persons with disabilities. It covers civil and political rights such as equal treatment and freedom from discrimination, and social and economic rights in areas like education, health care, employment and transport.
As of December 2021, the Convention has been ratified by 184 parties (183 States and the European Union). The Convention is monitored by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for which annual Conferences of States Parties to the CRPD have set guidelines since 2008.
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.
Twenty Years of Disability Policy Development in Ireland
The NDA was established in 2000. In 2020 to mark our 20th anniversary, we published a book that charts the origins of the NDA and how our statutory role has evolved and expanded since our establishment.
This story is told alongside an account of the major milestones in disability policy development over the last twenty years such as ratification of UNCRPD, a number of iterations of a National Disability Strategy, the development of a Comprehensive Employment Strategy for Persons with disabilities, and the roll-out of the Transforming Lives programme within specialist disability services.
It has been our pleasure to play a part in informing the development of these strategies and programmes, as well as the independent monitoring of progress
against their goals and objectives.
