Mr. John Maher:

I echo what Ms Kennedy said in terms of my Department regarding uptake and the availability of it. The WAM programme is a real benchmark of what we are doing and is always oversubscribed. The experience has been really positive in terms of persons in our workplace. It is a whole-of-government response. The committee would acknowledge that. The Senator is right. It is for each Department to assess its own process so the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment does not look to fob it off on the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth or say "that's not for us".

You could say that the employment gap would be a key metric for us so we have to see what the new census data tells us there. Another metric would be the rate of self-employed persons. In that regard, the comparison is very good in that the rate is almost equal if not higher among disabled people. There does need to be increased awareness and the work of this committee helps drive that across the system. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is very committed to this area.