Introduction

As set out in the Introduction and the previous chapter, Ireland’s National Disability Strategy was chosen as the case study for this research as it uniquely combines legislation, policy, and resource commitments and includes detailed high-level implementation and monitoring structures. The previous chapter charted the golden threads in Irish disability law and policy, and touched on some of the challenges that ensued in the development of the core element of Ireland’s current national disability strategy – the Disability Act 2005. This chapter will aim to draw out the main principles underpinning the current framework for Ireland’s Disability Strategy and assess the potential for the strategy to act as a vehicle for implementing the aims of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Ireland.

This analysis will begin by setting out the strategy’s vision and mission, drawing from the Taoiseach’s speech at the launch of the strategy and the vision document published in 2009 that links the strategy’s aims to the high-level goals for people with disabilities in the social partnership agreement Towards 2016. The alignment of the National Disability Strategy with other national policy statements and reports (such as the National Action Plan on Social Inclusion, the National Children’s Strategy, and the Developmental Welfare State Report) will also be discussed here, as will the similarities between the aims of the strategy and the principles enshrined in the CRPD.