Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. While I agree with Deputy Fitzpatrick with regard to the self-employed, I wish to revert to the issue regarding the supports available to enable people with disabilities to gain access to the workforce. The key job for this joint committee and for Members of the Oireachtas is to try to ensure that each euro being spent on disability services is making a difference. With that in mind, I wish to discuss the wage subsidy scheme. The departmental officials should outline what checks are carried out to make sure the aforementioned scheme is actually working for the employer who is availing of it in the name of an employee with a disability. What background checks are conducted or what evidence does the Department have that the employees are receiving the reasonable support and accommodation they are meant to receive? As I am sure have many other Oireachtas Members, I have encountered instances in which employees in a company who are doing precisely the same work as other employees without a disability, are not being given that reasonable level of accommodation. They are not being allowed to start a little later or to finish a little earlier or whatever may be required to accommodate their disability. One must remember that in many cases, the employer is receiving nearly 50% of the hourly wage from the Department for that perceived lack of productivity. This is one of my questions because I am not convinced that in every case, sufficient checks are being carried out to ensure that employers are passing on the benefit to the employees for which the taxpayers are paying.

When one talks about helping people with disabilities to get into the workforce, it really is a cross-departmental and cross-Government issue. Obviously, the Department of Social Protection has a key role in this regard but so has the HSE, the Departments of Health and Environment, Community and Local Government and so on. What sort of cross-departmental work is under way at present? By way of example, many employees with a disability might need the support of a personal assistant, PA, to actually access work. I note there has been much recent media comment on PA hours. Obviously, the issue of PA hours is a matter for the HSE and the Department of Health but if such hours are not available, the Department's initiative to get people with disabilities back into the workforce obviously cannot happen. I have witnesses to comment on such cross-departmental work.

In the context of disability, one hears a great deal from those who provide the services, from officials and from politicians but one rarely hears the voice of the person with the disability. The witnesses should outline the structures the Department has in place to hear feedback from those who are availing of the employment support and the assisted employment services. With that in mind, this may be something the joint committee could consider because while it is highly beneficial to have the officials in attendance today and I greatly welcome that, it might be useful at some point to hear from those who avail of such services about some of the anomalies they experience.