Ms Lucianne Bird:

Good morning. It is a privilege to address the committee, and I commend members on highlighting the many issues affecting people who are disabled. I am the director of training with the National Learning Network - Rehab Group. I am joined by my colleagues, Mr. Stewart, head of employment, and Mr. Meere, a member of Rehab's advocacy committee, a student in our National Learning Network, NLN, division and a person with lived experience.

The Rehab Group provides services to more than 10,000 people, championing diversity and inclusion in education, training, employment and communities. The NLN is our supported education division. We deliver inclusive education that is accessible to all students. We support almost 7,000 students each year, aged 16 years and upwards, across further education and training, FET, and higher education. RehabCare delivers health and social care services across Ireland, providing resource centres, respite, residential, supported accommodation, outreach and home-based services. Our social enterprise company provides employment opportunities and has recently developed an innovative model of supported employment called the transitional workforce, which will provide placement and support services, creating vibrant partnerships with the business community to provide sustainable employment opportunities for people with disabilities. This model will be developed further.

We are advocating on behalf of the 10,000 people who use our services, their families and carers concerning the various issues they have highlighted about surviving financially on current social protection payments and where they are struggling with the current cost-of-living increases, especially for those who are living independently.

One-size-fits-all eligibility thresholds and benefit levels can create significant barriers to accessing social protection supports. Conversely, an individualised approach that takes into account the unique circumstances of people with disabilities can promote increased participation in society. In 2021, research commissioned by the Department of Social Protection into the cost of disability estimated that the average annual costs of disability ranged from €9,500 to €11,700 per household. These averages do not account for geography and type or severity of disability and there was no differentiation between payments to recognise these variations.

Accessible training and education is a first key step towards economic inclusion for many. Conversion of social protection payments into training allowances can be a disincentive to engagement, as is a lack of adequate meal and clothing allowances.

Employment is another critical component in addressing the cost of disability. At 33%, Ireland has the lowest employment rate for people with disabilities. People with disabilities in Ireland experience barriers to accessing and sustaining employment, including infrastructural barriers, negative stereotypical perceptions and loss of secondary benefits.

Personal assistance supports are critical for independent living and can literally be life-changing. However, there are many inadequacies in this respect, including the amount of support being insufficient to cover actual needs, geographical disparities in the availability of personal assistance services, long waiting times, a lack of awareness regarding the availability of the support, and funding deficiencies for the type and level of support required.

Based on the feedback received from those who use our services, their families and carers, we recommend: a more individualised approach to eligibility thresholds and benefit levels that includes the introduction of a disability passport to access all benefits; moving away from an incapacity-to-work medical model that focuses solely on a person's diagnosis or impairment and instead considering strengths, skills and support needs; adopting a universal design approach in the design and delivery of social welfare programmes and services; the implementation of social protection schemes to cover the costs of disability using needs-based mechanisms that are not means-tested and not based on prior contributions to social insurance schemes; incentivising attendance in training and education courses; stopping the conversion of Department of Social Protection allowances into training allowances and instead providing cost-based additional allowances to cover the travel, meals and clothing associated with attending training and educational opportunities; allowing tax offsets for people with disabilities in employment or self-employment to cover the additional costs of disability; no reduction in secondary benefits while in employment regardless of duration of employment; a refocused attention on the role and responsibilities of employers and learning from good practice in other European countries, for example, the increased use of quotas in the private sector, social clauses for companies undertaking work for the public sector, and-or legal enforcement of Article 20 provisions; and revising the provision of income support based on contributory benefits to ensure that people with disabilities are not disadvantaged by having reduced PRSI contributions.

I thank the committee for its time. I ask Mr. Meere to make his opening remarks.