President Higgins - ireland on our 'international Reputation ..in human rights?!

President Michael D Higgins has described Ireland’s election to the United Nation’s body for human rights as “an honour”.
Higgins said the decision to give Ireland a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was a strong endorsement of Ireland’s international reputation. This I find astounding. What international reputation in 'human rights' would President Higgins be referring to?
In relation to the 'Convention On The Rights of Persons with Disabilities' Ireland has still not ratified the international rights instrument intended to protect persons with disabilities. Parties in the convention are required to 'promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law. The text was adopted by the United Nations General assembly on 13th December 2006 and opened for signatures on 30th March 2007. It came into force on 3rd May 2008. As of December 2012, it has 154 signatures and 126 parties, including the European Union, Ireland is absent.
Furthermore Ireland still retains laws describing Learning disabled people as 'lunatics' and has just written a budget far removed from ensuring disabled people have 'full enjoyment of human rights' and 'ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law'. On the contrary this government has plunged disabled and sick people, and elderly who are largely disabled, into utter despair, poverty, cold and hungry with little or no support services.
It would now seem obvious to all that this Government has NOT ratified the 'Convention on the Rights of Disabled People' precisely because they wanted the ability to cut services in this sector which might then be in breach of the ratified convention.
Far from having an 'international' reputation Ireland has an absymal reputation in care for vulnerable and disabled persons. President Higgins would be wise to learn of what the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People' actually asks of Government and then to assess if we, indeed, have ANY good reputation in this area.