Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a final question about an issue on which the committee has placed a strong focus before and which is worth teasing out. As the delegates will be aware, my colleague in the Civil Engagement group, Senator John Dolan, works with the Disability Federation of Ireland; therefore, there is an overlap. As we push forward and make a case, it would be useful for us to have a sense of the numbers from the monitoring of persons, even if it is informal. We would then be able to say whether there were 50 or 100 cases of people whose potential employment was effectively refused because of this issue. If the grant allocation is exhausted by February, we need to be marking this politically. Persons with a disability who are seeking a workplace adaptation grant for the rest of the year have effectively been denied the opportunity to work. It is similar to the gender pay gap in that there is a point in the year at which the disparity comes into play. We will be looking at gender inequality proofing which is a requirement for all Departments during our hearing on the Estimates for the social protection budget. We should raise the issue of inequality proofing with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection because of the differential in the offers being made.

We have not discussed the other issues, but I thank the delegates for raising them. The point about the blind pension was well made and is taken, as is the one about expansion of the free travel schleme. I would like to move towards blanket free travel, much wider access to and the promotion of free public transport owing to other imperatives, including energy, but this is yet another area where it is important.