Catherine Connolly calls for an end to poverty and exclusion
for the disability community.
Says the voices of the disability community must be central to creating the inclusive society we need.
DUBLIN, 2nd September:
Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly TD said “Disability justice is an important issue for my election campaign. Many of those with disabilities and their families face a life of poverty and exclusion. This is a long-standing failure of the state and it must be addressed in the Ireland that we want to build for the future”.
“In 2023 disability campaigners had to fight hard against government proposals for disability reform that would have deepened poverty even further amongst one of the most impoverished communities in our society. The campaign achieved an important victory when the government was forced to withdraw their proposals, but why did they have to fight so hard to defend themselves and their loved ones?”
“Yesterday the government published its new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. I welcome this strategy but I have deep concerns that the plans and aspirations will not be fulfilled, as has been the case with similar plans so many times before. It is a shocking indictment of sustained failure that the number of children on waiting lists for assessment of need has reached nearly 17,000 and the HSE projects the number of children waiting could reach 25,000 by the end of this year. This national scandal must end”.
“We need to create a society in which people with disabilities and their families are included in every aspect of our society and we need to lift the weight of poverty that is the harsh reality for so many. We can only achieve those important goals if the voices of the disability community are at the centre of creating the future we want. Without equality for all, there is no equality”.
ENDS/
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