Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are obviously people with a disability who are in work but who do not make any claim on the Department of Social Welfare because they have an income from their employment and so do not require support from social welfare. I do not have those particular figures. That would be a matter for CSO, but I will ask the staff to obtain those figures for the Deputy. There is a proportion of people in that situation in public services and in companies.

People on the different disability payments face enormous barriers in the current employment market. We now have three principal schemes to assist them, and that is referenced on page 34. With the transfer of the FÁS staff, we took over what is now known as the employability service, which is a dedicated service in about 19 offices around the country. We have a wage subsidy scheme which basically aims to subsidise, for the employer, the additional costs that might be associated with employing somebody with a disability. The supported employment programme is a very interesting programme. There are a range of supports available to work both with the person with the disability who is seeking employment and with the prospective employer, including information about the requirements of the individual who is seeking employment, such as whether he or she needs special access ramps, a wider desk, adapted toilet facilities or anything else. We give small grants to assist in adapting facilities to allow the person to take up employment. If the individual has an intellectual disability, additional coaching might be required for the world of work. In many cases, we would talking about part-time employment.

I have had an opportunity to meet with representatives of several of these services. We had eight information sessions last year for employers on these new services. Wherever I made the presentation, I told employers about employment supports such as the wage subsidy and the small-scale adaptation grants, as well as the coaching information services available for employers and their HR departments and the specific coaching services we could provide. These services will continue after the person has taken up employment. The Irish Association of Supported Employment participated in the job shadow days. I have been heavily involved in supporting that. The Taoiseach has also supported it by taking on a job shadow. Generally, this is for people with intellectual or other disability issues. Many employers find that if they do that, their customers are happy to see that this employer is somebody who offers opportunities to people with disabilities. There are young people with a disability who are happily mainstreamed in our education system. A number of them are now going on to third level at Trinity College and Blanchardstown. That is a great achievement and the next stage is to provide additional opportunities for them to go to work. As Minister, I am very keen to see this.

The partial capacity benefit was formally launched in 2011.

Somebody who, for example, develops MS and stops working for a significant time, but then goes back to work, can have his or her level of disability or limitation assessed and is free to work for the balance. Approximately 2,000 people avail of that benefit.