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

I welcome Mr. Hennessy, Mr. McCann and Professor Cooney and thank them for coming in to speak to us. They have made it very clear what the issues are and have offered solutions. I will talk a little more about their experiences. Mr. Hennessy frequently makes the point that there are supports in place for employers to employ disabled people, including the wage subsidy scheme and the reasonable accommodations fund, but the same supports do not exist to employ oneself. I ask Mr. Hennessy to expand on that. What supports did he receive, and where were supports lacking? I ask the same question of Mr. McCann. What supports were in place and where did they let him down? What barriers did he come up against, including attitudinal barriers put up by people around disability? I will come back to Professor Cooney afterwards.