Speech by President Connolly at Rehab Annual Conference
Gibson Hotel, Dublin, 26 March 2026
A chairde,
I am pleased to be here with you today at Rehab’s National Advocacy Conference. May I thank Laura Keane, Rehab’s newly appointed Chief Executive, for the invitation to speak today, and my thanks also to Conor Brandon Byrne for his warm words of welcome.
It is important to note that the conference is being live-streamed across the Rehab National Learning Network and the Rehab Centres. May I offer a céad míle fáilte to everyone present.
Is ócáid fíor-thábhachtach í seo a thugann deis daoibh ar fad teacht le chéile; bhur riachtanais agus scéalta féin a phlé agus teacht ar fhéidearthachtaí agus réitigh a fheabhsóidh bhur saol.
Is onóir mhór dom a bheith anseo libh inniu, a chairde, agus tréaslaím libhse a rinne sár-iarracht bhur mbealach a dhéanamh anseo mar go dtuigeann sibh an gá práinneach atá le bhur nglórtha a ardú le go gcloisfear bhur scéalta, go dtuigfear na heaspaí agus an dua atá sibhse ag streachailt leo lá i ndiaidh lae.
As an independent, voluntary, rights-based organisation, since 1949 – coincidentally the year Ireland became a Republic – Rehab has been supporting adults and children to rebuild their lives, initially working with those suffering from TB.
Your role has evolved over the years. Your rehabilitation work, empowering those you support to live more independent lives and to contribute fully to their communities, remains vitally important.
Over the decades, your sterling record in advocacy, based on meticulous, methodical research, has become a cornerstone of your work. It has not been an easy process but your tireless efforts to engage with policymakers have certainly influenced government policy.
Indeed, your constant and consistent advocacy, over decades, ensured that Ireland signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, ratifying in 2018 and finally acceding to the Optional Protocol in 2024.
It is testimony to your work that we have come so far. We have moved to a rights-based approach, and that is very welcome. You have clearly highlighted, however, that challenges remain in fulfilling Ireland’s commitments to the Convention, and the gaps that persist between those commitments and meaningful actions.
As you are well aware, for people with disabilities, many of the challenges are interconnected. These include high unemployment rates, limited financial independence and higher costs of living.
In this context, one cannot ignore the stark statistic that the percentage of people with disabilities at risk of poverty in Ireland is one of the highest in the EU (37.8 percent).
Moreover, the number of people who have a disability is increasing rapidly. In Census 2022, 1.1 million people (22 percent of the population) reported having a long-lasting condition or disability, compared to 643,000 people in Census 2016.
That statistic alone should give us cause to reflect on how we can build communities, embedding the concept of universal access and recognising that good design enables, and bad design disables.
This national advocacy conference is an act of solidarity with the 12,800 individuals who currently access your services, along with their families and loved ones.
Tá sé thar a bheith soléir go bhfuil an abhcóideacht mar chuid rí-thábhachtach den tseirbhís a chuirtear ar fáil daoibhse atá á húsáid. Tá sibh le feiceáil, a chairde, tá sibh le cloisteáil, tá sé tábhachtach agus práinneach anois go n-éistfidh libh.
I want to commend and thank all the staff and volunteers of Rehab for all your work, and for providing a platform to hear the voices of the people who use your services.
Ba mhaith liom buíochas ó chroí a ghabhail libh arís as ucht an chuiridh a bheith libh inniu.
Is ábhar misnigh agus dóchais an rannpháirtíocht spreagúil bhríomhar uaibh ar fad. Guím gach rath oraibh féin agus ar an nGrúpa Rehab le bhur saothar abhcóideachta.
Go n-éirí go geal libh.