Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Perfect. That was a key question. I will give input regarding a couple of points that really struck me on that issue of transition points from the testimony of others. Special needs assistants were mentioned. People may have had special needs assistance in our higher education institutions or post-primary institutions and then find themselves wishing to transition into employment but the educational supports that they had were tied to their educational chapter. There are people who may have managed to navigate and, for example, receive a degree but in that period immediately afterwards, when it is so important for translating into employment, they are almost entering a brand new system cold, starting the negotiations again and trying to get support again, rather than having a period of overlap which allows them to transition into employment. That was one example. Those transitions are a key concern. I welcome that there is a fast-track for those who may seek to leave disability allowance and return to it. It is positive that that may happen a number of times.

I have a couple of concerns on the social protection system. One is the fact that people can become invisible in terms of their disability at a number of points. For example, if somebody transitions into full-time employment the fact he or she is a person with disability can become invisible. We have talked about the level of income disregard on medical cards. There are many situations when we talk about making work pay and the cost of disability where people may well need quite extensive medical supports over the course of a lifetime that are not going to go away and are not going to be fundable. We heard from people who felt they had to go back on disability allowance because of that cost and the fear they would lose their entitlement to the medical card and who would have preferred not to be getting disability allowance and the medical card but simply getting the medical card. However, they had to transition back to get both again.

The other concern I have is where people get to pension age and they disappear as somebody with a disability in terms of the visibility of that issue. There were a lot of concerns on the question of the invalidity pension. The transition to partial capacity benefit was mentioned. Partial capacity benefit is an interesting one because the recognition of partial capacity is not as well recognised for those on a disability allowance, although they have the disregard. Given that we know some people are working, using the income disregard while on disability allowance, and others are seeking to work, and perhaps Ms Ryan might answer this question, are there quality part-time educational and employment options that recognise that people may be available and seeking work on a part-time basis?