Dr. Aideen Hartney:

Capturing and updating data is challenging and time-consuming. Obviously, the census is only taken every five years. The 2022 census will tell us how far we have travelled since 2016 and how much further we have to go before the end of the lifetime of the comprehensive employment strategy. However, there are ways of measuring progress between censuses. There are other survey instruments, such as the survey on income and living conditions and the labour force survey, that are carried out at other intervals and which can be used as a check. The Central Statistics Office is also engaged in a number of pathfinder projects with relevant Departments to use administrative data that would not be captured in something like the census to give us a picture of what is out there. There are other data points that can be used as indicators of progress or lack thereof. Part of our role is to explore and look at these. One of the ongoing challenges is just getting public bodies to capture and gather data about disability. We are very much encouraging all public bodies to continue to do that. The next three-year action plan for the comprehensive employment strategy is being developed at the moment. There is a push to include some clear targets in that. I hope we will see good progress in that.

On the range of different Departments and public bodies that people need to engage with, that is indeed challenging and frustrating. It is borne out of the Government policy of mainstreaming whereby every Department should offer its services for all who live in Ireland regardless of ability or disability so that it is not deemed a specialist service to offer. That is what lies behind the principle of universal design. I will pass to my colleague, Ms Wilkinson, who has some examples of good practice with regard to referrals and protocols between some public bodies that could be applied more widely.