Professor Tom Cooney:

I will give the recent OECD publication, Policy Brief on Supporting Persons with Disabilities in Entrepreneurship, to the Chair, for the record. It was published in March. One of its key recommendations is to "Use income support systems to support entrepreneurship". I talked to past participants on the course. The overwhelming response was that something should be done about disability support services. The welfare benefit trap remains the single biggest challenge. The Department of Social Protection is in denial if it is claiming that we do not need supports.

Do we need a specific support? I am not so sure. The system needs to be looked at rather than putting particular individual supports in place. The system of how we support people with a disability needs to be looked at; as does how we support them into self-employment if that is their chosen career path. At the moment, it is a barrier. Anyone who says otherwise is in complete denial.