Dublin City Council Access and Inclusion Workshop
The Disability Federation of Ireland recently held (26th January 2017) an accessibility and inclusion workshop on how to make Dublin more accessible. The event was opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Brendan Carr who indicated that the issue of accessibility needs to be urgently addressed; the role of Access Officer within the Council will be fulfilled on a fulltime basis and he confirmed his commitment to make Mansion House more accessible.
The workshop explored the main Articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities including:
- Article 8 - Awareness Raising,
- Article 9 - Accessibility,
- Article 19 - Living independently and being included in the community,
- Article 20 - Personal mobility,
- Article 21 - Freedom of expression and opinion, and access to information,
- Article 29 - Participation in political and public life.
Some of the key findings of the session included: there is a need for continued engagement with key stakeholders; People with disabilities are still discriminated against and there is a lack of equality; public awareness of the barriers faced by people with disabilities should be addressed; Monitoring and enforcement should be strengthened; Physical access (e.g. buildings, streets, parks) and access to public transport is still a major barrier and The Irish Government needs to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
At the conclusion of the workshop the Disability Federation of Ireland indicated that they will host a number of additional workshops in the coming months to address all of the key recommendations made on the day and ensure continued engagement with those in attendance.
To find out more on UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on 01 – 4151285 or e-mail [email protected].
