Agenda

This Council unequivocally supports the following commitment:

"Ireland is committed to respecting, protecting and fulfilling the human rights of people with disabilities as set out in the UNCRPD. Ireland takes this responsibility extremely seriously and implements the rights in the UNCRPD on an ongoing basis to continually advance and strengthen domestic measures to support rights in the UNCRPD".

Source: Dept of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

Mindful of the above commitment, this Council, under Section 140 Local Government Act, 2001 (as amended), instructs the CE Dublin City Council to set aside the Report on Non Statutory Public Consultation (Feb 24) regarding the Dublin City Transport Plan because it is not compliant with the consultation obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, Arts. 4(3) and 29(b)ii ) and, therefore, is also in breach of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended) Sections 69 and 64.

Accordingly, this Council requests the CE to set about preparing for a new public consultation which is UNCRPD compliant. This will ensure the continued forward momentum of the draft Dublin City Transport Plan in line with legal and moral imperatives.

Additionally,

1)    Broad general public consultations with aggregated outcomes, are wholly inadequate in meeting 'close' consultation obligations with what DCC refers to as DPOs, and what UNCRPD refers to as their (i.e. disabled person's) representative organisations', under Article 4 (3) of the UNCRPD and de facto Local Government Act 2001 Section 69. Furthermore, this Council does not accept that this type of broad non-close public consultation for DPOs 'strengthens' or 'continually advances Ireland's stated commitment to the UNCRPD.

2)    The representation of the views of the community in a non-statutory public opinion survey (as referenced in the Plan appendices) is a reserved function under LGA 2001 Section 64. Neither this particular public consultation nor its proposed methodology (incl. non- close /specific consultation with DPOs) were brought before the members for approval.

This Council notes that prioritization of the views and opinions of DPOs is not evident in the report. There was no recognition of the legal standing of DPOs as the only representative organisations in terms of disability proofing under the UNCRPD; nor was there a distinction made between organisations for persons with disabilities" (i.e. 3rd party organisations such as disability service providers mentioned in report (p.19)) and "organisations of persons with disabilities" (i.e. Disabled Persons Organisations aka DPOs), contrary to the UNCRPD. (General Comment 7, paras. 13, 14).

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, under the auspices of the Office of the High Commissioner UN Human Rights provides authoritative guidance about the provisions of the UNCRPD through General Comments. General Comment No.7 (GC7 published 2018) is particularly relevant because it is about consultation, which is a cross-cutting principle and general obligation of the UNCRPD (GC7 paras. 68, 3, 9, 67). This is recognised by DCC's belated DPO consultation policy launched in December 2023, but has been of immediate effect since Ireland's ratification  ...  view the full agenda text for item 1.