Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for continuing these important hearings on disability and employment. They are very important. I thank our witnesses from the Open Doors Initiative and the NCBI. The NCBI talked about the shame of Ireland having the highest number of jobless disabled persons when compared with the whole of the EU. The other thing that stands out to me is that, when we look at potential labour supply in this country, and while we have different metrics of unemployment, when we look at the largest measure of unemployment and potential labour supply, it stands at approximately 12.5%. Therefore 12.5% of the potential labour force want to work but cannot work because of structural barriers in their lives. It is not solely those with a disability but a large chunk of that number is made up by those with a disability. There is enormous work to be done so it is fantastic we are having these hearings.

One of the things I want to pick up on, and Ms McDonagh in particular talked about it, is the importance of paid internships in terms of opening that door, and the Open Doors Initiative has done a fantastic job in making that bridge between companies and those who need employment opportunities. I want to understand a little more about the share of disabled people who have never had work experience and those who were in the workplace and have come out of the workplace because of their disability. There is obviously a very large spectrum of disability but I would like to hear the experience of both organisations regarding that because in the context of the measures required, and I am thinking in particular about flexible and remote work, we know those with disabilities were excluded from the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act which has now offered remote and flexible working opportunities. I want to hear more from the witnesses about the challenges faced by those who have never had work experience and the different challenges for those who have had to leave the labour market because of their disability.