Ms Christabelle Feeney:

It probably depends on the Intreo office, the person to whom one speaks or how one writes the application but the rule of thumb is the reasonable accommodation supports are applicable to employers for employees. There is definitely a gap on the entrepreneur or self-employment side of things that needs to be filled. There is an opportunity for more supports for people with disabilities to go into local enterprises and come at it from that aspect rather than it all being under the Department of Social Protection. It is important that the funds for individuals who have disabilities who are entrepreneurs come from the same stream as funding for other entrepreneurs. The wording that is being used is poor in terms of uptake. We recommended that the wage subsidy scheme be increased from 50% of the minimum wage to 70%. As we are all aware, there is a cost-of-living crisis. That is a big thing. Even the wording of that subsidy scheme is demeaning. An employer has to sign off that the employee has a lesser capacity to work than others within the organisation. Nobody wants to do that. Employers have told me they will not do that to the person in question as he or she will have to look at the form and agree to it and it is often not true. I do not think that would be applicable to a person who is self-employed or an entrepreneur. I am not 100% sure on the entrepreneur side in terms of the UK model but it is something we could consider.