Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a blatant breach of the aspiration and the values set down within the sustainable development goals.

I want to pick up on the question Deputy Bruton asked about the interdepartmental working group. I would like to hear a bit more about who is on the group and what exactly the outputs of the group are. I also have a concern about the approach of the Department towards those who have a disability and bringing them into the workplace.

We can talk about the supports in Intreo or some of the subsidies that are available but is the Department really working with the other Departments to develop the costed disability allowance or to look at the potential labour supply and how we bring people who would like a job but are not actively looking for one because of the circumstances in their life? It could be because they are caring, have a disability or for another reason. To what extent is the Department trying to work with other Departments to try to activate people in the potential labour supply who would like to work but cannot do so because of the structural circumstances in their lives?