Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses from PAS, SOLAS and the WRC for their input. In 2022 the European Commission reported that Ireland had the highest disability gap in the EU at 39%. In 2023 that increased to 42%. The EU average is supposed to be around 24%. We are not meeting our targets. I do not know what the figure is for this year and whether the gap has got even worse. We do not seem to be closing the gap. Why is that the case?

Are women more prone than men to being disadvantaged? I think we were previously told that men were more disadvantaged. I would be interested to hear the witnesses' thoughts about that.

What are the barriers, including ineligibility criteria, for recruitment campaigns regarding people with disabilities accessing public sector jobs? What are the main barriers?

Through SOLAS support, the Irish Deaf Society will offer courses to deaf adults and provide Irish Sign Language courses to 700 people this year. What sort of outcomes do we expect? What qualifications will come from that? What would be a good outcome in those situations?

Referrals to the WRC on the ground of disability have been the highest received over the past three years, amounting to 23% or 170 of the referrals received in 2023. In the public sector there is a minimum requirement that 3% or 4% of employees would be persons with disabilities. That is a very low percentage in general terms. How can we improve the outcomes if, in the public service, we have only got 3% or 4%. I am not sure how those gaps can be closed.