William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)

I will be very brief. I apologise because I had to leave for a while to attend an online meeting with HIQA. I wish the Minister well in his new brief. I thank the officials accompanying him today.

Could we have a sliding scale for payments? I am new as a TD but I gave more than 40 years' service as a councillor on Laois County Council. There was always a cut-off point, which was totally unfair to people. A sliding scale would allow people to be entitled to something. I always found it very difficult to tell a person they were €10 over the cut-off point, that I could not do anything for them and that there was nothing else for them. It was a question of there being no hope. It was the only case where I saw people going from the council in pure despair. Could the Minister please look at that as part of his brief?

All Departments should look at this issue. There must be some way to allow people to get a partial entitlement. I am very much focused on that because I found it very difficult to tell people they had no entitlement. It is the only area in which I could not give any hope to people. The Minister must examine the issue.

I am delighted the Minister met Mr Price and Musgraves. We have to do a lot of work to try to encourage people who are in a position to do so to employ people with disabilities. I see the benefits to the people I know who get such work. The problem is that they do not get enough time. There is real excitement among people and their parents or guardians when they get such work. I urge the Minister to put some energy into that area, by way of a return – not necessarily financial – to companies who employ people with disabilities. He could impress on them an awareness that they are doing it to try and encourage other companies by means of photographic shoots or whatever else, with the agreement of the person involved who gets the work.

I have seen the excitement where I live. I spoke on a couple of occasions to a child with Down's syndrome who goes to work every morning and who was so excited to be working. He said he would love if they kept him for longer during the day. It is great to see it. I had a great experience the other morning when I was travelling here on a bus from the train station, as I had got the train to Dublin. A young girl on the bus told all of us she was going to work in the Department of Finance. She said it was a great day for her because she was three years' in her job. Everyone around her on the bus congratulated her, even though they did not know her from Adam. That was lovely. I would like if the Minister could do a little more in this regard for the duration of his time in his Ministry.