Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The UK has an access programme and I think that is part of it. It has something good. There is no point in reinventing the wheel, so we should look at other jurisdictions and see what they are using and what is working and replicating it here. We need to increase the number of disabled people who are employed. We have one of the lowest levels in Europe and one of the highest poverty rates. They are obviously interlinked. Under the comprehensive employment strategy, the Government has committed to increasing it to 38% by 2024 from 33% at the moment. That is a lot of people and that is only next year. There is much work required to try to encourage people to get into the workplace.

We also hear as well that one of the reasons that people do not take up employment is the fear of losing secondary benefits such as the medical card and the free travel pass. Could it ensure that they hold onto those be looked at? The cost of disability is expensive and part of that is transport and part is medical costs. If they were able to have a medical card for life and a free travel pass, it would encourage many more people to take up employment.