Ms Mary Finn:

I thank Deputy Canney. I remember our conversation, which is what started the process of me being here today. There is an awful lot to do. There is a huge opportunity to make the future of work more inclusive. As someone alluded to - I cannot remember who as there has been so much commentary - things in education are changing as the current generation goes through the school system. My daughter refers to herself as Gen Z. She says Gen Z think this or that and they think differently to us. As they progress through school and on in life, they will have a different way of thinking and a different approach. My girls do not see the students in their class who have additional needs as being any different. It is just who they are and is part of them; it is nothing different. The mindset that some of us of a different or older generation might have is not going to be the same as theirs.

On Senator Seery Kearney's question about radical thinking, there are so many things in place already. I do not know if it is necessarily a matter of radical thinking but of using what we have already. There are lots of tools available and I will highlight two in particular. For those who may not be familiar with JAM cards, the JAM stands for "just a minute". They have appeared throughout retail units such as Penneys and our local Eurospar is using them. Retail units using these cards will give extra time and additional supports to customers who might need help finding items in the shop or so on. Employers might also have employees wearing these JAM cards to indicate that when they are asked a question they might need a minute or two to process it. There are tools there.

The other tool I would highlight is the reasonable accommodation passport, which was launched in 2019 in collaboration with IBEC and ICTU. Initially it was designed as a tool for people with a disability in work to communicate what accommodations they might need. In an effort to make that an inclusive tool that is open to everybody, it can be used right throughout the lifetime of every employee. Ms Hayes mentioned that 80% of people acquire their disability after the age of 16, which indicates that most people acquire their disability while in the workforce and during their working life. We need to look at the employee experience from the minute someone starts engaging with an employer as a potential employee in the recruitment process. For example, when applying for jobs, can they submit a video application rather than a written one? Taking that right through to the point where they retire or leave that organisation, we need to look at how that whole employee journey can be supported to make it more inclusive, by using things such as the reasonable accommodation passport if someone has a challenge, a health condition or a disability. That is available to everybody so everyone should know they can use that at any stage if they have a challenge, a mental health challenge or even a temporary physical challenge that they need some support with. When people know their employers are open to talking about these things and are supportive and using tools like that, it makes it much more inclusive.

That is my tuppence worth on those few tools that are there - no radical thinking, only using what is there.