Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the participants for their input today. It has been an informative and uplifting discussion. As Senator McGreehan said, at times it has been very concerning too. That is the harsh reality of the challenges facing people with disabilities and we need to meet those challenges head-on. We need to overcome them with investment and better recruitment so more people can access more services, as Dr. Brady has so rightly said.

Ms Hennessy spoke very passionately about the need for companies to engage in meaningful recruitment campaigns for people with disabilities. She is dead right. Mr. Kelly touched on this as well. When people come in for work placements or internships or anything like that, it should not just be about getting a foot in the door or getting experience. It should also reward people financially. We need to move towards a model where people are rewarded for the very valuable work they do in organisations. Before I was elected as a Deputy two years ago, I worked in a multinational corporation where I was heavily involved in the diversity and inclusion strategy and employer outreach with disability organisations. We had a very successful partnership with Trinity College centre for people with intellectual disabilities and we hired people who made really valuable contributions to our workforce. We need to reach out to more companies in the private sector and engage with them proactively to make sure they are aware of the grants that are available to draw down, such as for disability awareness training. That would allow them to create a truly inclusive and equal culture in which the people they employ are viewed as inclusive and equal. That is the level we need every private company to get to.

Ms Hennessy spoke about the HR barriers and the barriers to information that may be there for HR teams. We need to break those down. We need to make it as simple as possible for companies to engage with this in a meaningful way and the first key step is making sure they can access that training grant and know how to access it.

Both Ms Hayes and Mr. Kelly spoke about the schemes, investments and grants that are available in the private sector and which have not been properly transported into the public sector. I just do not understand the rationale for that. The public sector should be leading on these things. The fact that assistive technology grants or the wage subsidy scheme are not available in the public sector flummoxes me. That is something I am happy to raise within my own party of Fine Gael, within the Government and on the floor of the Dáil because these are very simple changes that could make a massive difference to people in accessing employment. As State entities, we talk about being inclusive employers but there is no point talking that talk unless you are able to walk that walk. Having these simple structures that are already effectively being used in the private sector is just a no-brainer.

Ms Hayes spoke so well about what we need to do to support people in employment. Mr. Kelly is a model of that and shows how people can become entrepreneurs. Easy to Read is going to revolutionise restaurants, cafés and menus right around the country. I commend him and all he is doing because he is not just breaking down barriers and having a huge impact but is also showing to potential future entrepreneurs what can be done. That is hugely important because unless you can see it, it is very hard to be it. Well done to him on everything he is doing and to Ms Hayes on all the support she and her organisation are giving to entrepreneurs like Mr. Kelly, as well as to companies to make those changes.

Ms Finn talked about the importance of disability awareness training in schools, while Ms Hennessy referred to the pressures teachers are already under and how we need to be really careful in how we roll that out. We also need to roll it out elsewhere. I have not been offered disability awareness training in my two years here in the Oireachtas. Maybe that is something we should be looking at rolling out across the Oireachtas. I know Departments do it and perhaps it is offered here but is only done once every five years or something. What can we do to increase the uptake on that? We need an uptick in that in order to effect change. Perhaps it is offered in increments every couple of years. Let us look at how to increase that and how to get more people on it.

I was struck by what Ms Walsh said about everything we learn being something we did not know before today. Anything like that makes you richer.

That is the message I have taken from today. As a committee, we need to spread to organisations we are working with in the public and private sectors and we need to look at that mentality. The two things we can very quickly tackle head-on are engagement with the private sector on that grant - I would love to hear the representatives' views on how we do that in a very meaningful and proactive way - and how we move those provisions of support and incentives available in the private sector to the public sector. Hopefully, the political will is there to do that. Today, we saw there was cross-party support for it and I am certainly determined to see how we can make that happen. I would love to hear the representatives' thoughts on those two measures in particular because by giving people the opportunity to get into the workforce we are helping them to realise their full potential. That is what need to do.