Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the optional protocol, the ratification of the convention is a step of great importance and we are already seeing the ripple effects of that in the context of creating the network of decision support services, which is all as a consequence of that. The benefit of the optional protocol would be to allow individual persons with a disability to petition the UN committee and to allow the UN committee to undertake inquiries to establish whether there are major issues in Ireland with regards to failure to meet requirements under the UNCRPD. The commitment in the programme for Government is to ratify the optional protocol and the intention is to allow the first reporting cycle to be completed first. My Department is working on the drafting of the report. That report has to go to the network and will then be published as a public document for public commentary and consultation before being concluded and submitted to the United Nations committee for its scrutiny. It will then come back with a response and at that stage we will be bring forward the ratification of the optional protocol. This is clear commitment in the programme for Government.

On the issue of employment, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has identified that this as a priority for us. Deputy Cairns flagged that there may be a lack of knowledge on the part of persons with disabilities about what services are available. There is also a lack of knowledge on the part of employers about the supports the State can provide. These supports are significant. Employers may be nervous about taking on what they may perceive to be something that will be difficult to manage for them. We need to support employers, particularly in the private sector. We are bringing forward an awareness campaign and will back that up with a website and a new approach to getting that information out to employers. One of the areas the Department recognise in respect of objective 5.1 of the comprehensive employment strategy is that not enough has been done on that particular point.

We are looking to pilot a programme of supports for more intensive, dedicated job employment coaches for people with disabilities to assist them in the entire process of curricula vitae and interview preparation and to provide them with ongoing support. We are taking baby steps with that but it will be significant if we can run a successful pilot, and then we can mainstream it.