Mr. Donal Leahy:

I thank the Chair. I am a strategic policy manager with Enterprise Ireland and I am here with my colleague Mr. Greg Swift, who is with our sister organisation, namely, the local enterprise offices. We have prepared a joint opening statement to cover both organisations. I will provide an overview of Enterprise Ireland. Our purpose is to help Irish companies to start, grow, innovate and win export sales. We work with internationally-focused Irish enterprises across all sectors of the economy, predominantly with small and medium enterprises, supporting them to strengthen their competitiveness and productivity, increase innovation and realise their growth potential, contributing to employment and economic growth across all regions. We also work with a network of 31 local enterprise offices, LEOs, through our centre of excellence, to support the growth of microenterprises across the country.

I will now provide an overview of the local enterprise offices. They are the first-stop shop for businesses, providing a signposting service for supports available to SMEs, and providing high quality supports for business ideas. The mission of the LEOs is to promote entrepreneurship, foster business start-ups and support and develop micro and small businesses to drive job creation.

The LEOs, which have 31 dedicated teams across the local authority network in Ireland, offer a wide range of experience, skills and services. They have five core goals which are: to drive the development of local enterprise; to drive and support business start-ups and promote a can-do business culture; to increase the job potential of new and existing micro and small businesses; to increase the number of innovative businesses with potential to export; and to be proactive in response to the needs of clients. A key action of the local enterprise offices is the promotion of inclusion and accessibility in entrepreneurship, particularly among underrepresented groups.

The overall approach to employment and entrepreneurship for people with a disability between the agencies is that we are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs have a range of specific programmes and initiatives to increase labour market participation and entrepreneurship among people with a disability. Both organisations also have active programmes to ensure diversity and inclusion within their own organisations. Our work in this important field encompasses four main areas, drawing on Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which focuses on work and employment. The four areas are: access, that is, ensuring that our programmes and supports are available for people with a disability; education, that is, working with partners to provide people with a disability the skills and confidence required to start an entrepreneurial journey; information, that is, promoting the benefits of inclusion and diversity in recruitment practices among the companies we support; and opportunity, that is, working to embed the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion and to provide employment and entrepreneurship opportunities to people from across society, including people with a disability.

I will now outline of a number of programmes and initiatives in which we currently are involved to achieve our goals in this area. First, the promotion of entrepreneurship for people with disabilities is a new LEO-supported initiative. The LEOs have partnered with Technological University Dublin to host and deliver a new online course on entrepreneurship for people with disabilities. The programme is open to anyone who self-identifies as having a disability and wishes to start his or her own business. The initiative was co-funded and is proudly supported by the Open Doors Initiative. The new course builds on the experience and outcome of a pilot programme delivered by TUD and supported by partners, including the LEOs, in 2021 and 2022. Twenty places are available on the programme, which consists of 12 two-hour lectures delivered online. Applications for the course will open on 1 June this year.

The experience gained through the pilot programme has been used to inform the new course offered by TUD. The programme is supported by AIB and there is no fee for participants. Other partners include the Disability Federation of Ireland, DoTheFinancials.com, Microfinance Ireland and SimVenture. In addition, TU Dublin is currently developing a set of online resources on entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities that will include an e-learning module. These resources will be shared across 31 LEO offices once they come to hand in early June.

LEOs have engaged with the Open Doors Initiative to provide disability awareness training for LEO staff beginning in April 2024. The objectives of this training include creating disability awareness within the LEOs, broadening LEO staff understanding of disability beyond visible disabilities, exploring the barriers faced by people with disabilities in a work context, providing guidance on supporting an employee or colleague with a disability and increasing the recruitment and retention of employees with disabilities. I believe there was a session this morning on these very topics.

LEO disability champions is another initiative. The LEOs are seeking nominations from across the LEO network for an executive to undertake the role of disability champion. This will ensure that the LEOs continue to develop initiatives, share knowledge and act as liaison with disability advocacy organisations.

Enterprise Ireland also has a partnership with the Open Doors Initiative. In 2022 we signed a partnership agreement with the initiative, which provides opportunities to some of the marginalised members of society. It creates pathways to work through training, education, employment and entrepreneurship. Enterprise Ireland has provided mentors for five Open Doors Initiative mentoring programmes since January 2023 and it has been a great success for both participants and mentors. We recently completed disability awareness training workshops with employers for change, which is a programme of the Open Doors Initiative. Alongside an existing programme, in the coming months we intend to use our partnership to progress the establishment of a work placement programme for persons from marginalised communities, including people with a disability. We have plans, working in partnership with the Open Doors Initiative, to develop awareness campaigns and programmes that will utilise success stories of self-employed and entrepreneur role models with a variety of disabilities.

At the Enterprise Ireland summit in April 2023 we were delighted that the Open Doors Initiative CEO, Jeanne McDonagh, chaired a panel featuring representatives from organisations such as AsIAm, Change is Possible, the Public Appointments Service and Inclusio, which focused on unlocking the benefits of equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Enterprise Ireland new frontiers programme is Ireland’s national entrepreneurial development programme delivered through the technological universities and institutes of technology across 18 locations. Enterprise Ireland continues to work with the new frontiers programme teams to make the programme more accessible to people with disabilities. Phase 1 of the programme is now delivered virtually, which is more accessible. Phase 2 requires participants to attend workshops within colleges, with each of the colleges having individual policies on disability.

I will now provide information on employment incentives and recruitment in Enterprise Ireland companies. Enterprise Ireland promotes the employment supports offered by the Department of Social Protection, including supports for hiring people with a disability, through its Intreo service. We have communicated directly with client companies highlighting the supports available and include up-to-date Intreo information on our website. We have also promoted these supports in our weekly client e-zine.

On supporting entrepreneurs with a disability and on products or services for people with a disability, both the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland work to ensure that their entrepreneurial, mentoring and capability supports are available to all emerging entrepreneurs, including people with a disability. We have backed entrepreneurs and companies led by people with a disability and companies and entrepreneurs that provide innovative solutions for people with a disability. Prominent examples include a Dublin-based software company with a mission to make buildings more accessible, a Dublin-based award-winning brand with global ambition and a product that transforms a medical device into a piece of fashion and self-expression, a company that has developed a revolutionary reading programme based on a globally-recognised method for children with dyslexia and a new Limerick-based company that aims to make access to hospitality and other venues easier for people with disabilities. The product offering of the business will be an easily-fitted kit for transforming regular bathrooms into disabled bathrooms temporarily in just a few minutes.

In conclusion, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs are committed to enhancing employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for people with a disability. As public sector agencies, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs are dedicated to upholding equality and human rights principles in their activities, interactions with stakeholders and provision of services in line with our public sector, equality and human rights duties. In the programmes we deliver, either individually or with partners, we endeavour to ensure that people of all abilities can access the range of supports we offer. I thank members for their attention and look forward to their questions.