Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but that is for an exemption. When the Government and others say we need to move to the living wage, we do not need to move to a situation whereby there can be exemptions from it. That is slightly different. That is something on which some work will have to be done and the recommendations thus far from the LPC have been moderately paced, or slow, depending on how someone looks at it; they maybe they have been too fast for some. We will have to wait to see what that means.

I am sorry for jumping ahead but I have a number of questions lined up. I would like to ask about the commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion, which is mentioned in the documentation, not only within the Department but in respect of the broader employment of people with a disability. The European Disability Forum described Ireland as leading the hall of shame. Nobody wants us to be in that position. We have one of the lowest numbers of people with disabilities in employment in Europe. Disabled persons who are entrepreneurs will attend a meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters tomorrow morning and I have very much looking forward to engaging with them. There is a comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities and it is supposed to operate across Departments. Many of the actions reflect a really good approach. They are interdepartmental with all parties are at the table. However, we discussed the employment strategy and impact on disabled persons in the workplace at the committee three weeks ago and the key actions that are necessary for the advancement of people with sight loss, which is just one area we discussed, have not been completed. We heard on "Morning Ireland" earlier a report again about people with disabilities. They are excluded from the labour market here more so than they are in other areas. What will be done to address these issues? Is there a target to increase the number of people, and not just increase activity, and to actually measure that against how many people with a disability are entering and staying in the work force?