Mr. Adrian Stewart:

Senator McGreehan asked what the State could do to support us and I would like to talk about employment in particular. As Ms Bird mentioned earlier, we have Rehab Enterprises, which is a social enterprise for people with disabilities. Obviously, there is a role for the State to play in terms of tendering. There is a process within the EU that is governed by Article 20. Under this, procurement agencies can procure from organisations where 30% of the people involved either have a disability or are disadvantaged. This has not really been used at all in Ireland and it is something that we urge the Office of Government Procurement to engage with. The other issue with regard to contracts is the need for some sort of social contract under which suppliers to State agencies would employ or engage the services of people with disabilities. Senator McGreehan may have missed it, but we spoke earlier about a quota scheme for the private sector. The State should at least start a discussion on that. Maybe it is something that we could implement down the road.

In terms of employment, a supported-employment service is essential. While we do have a national supported-employment service, it is limited in terms of its reach for people with disabilities. I would like to see something put in place that would support people with more significant disabilities into employment.