Mr. Guillaume Jacquinot:

Flexibility is a very important thing. Speaking from my experience of intellectual disability, we need more flexibility in the recruitment process, more flexibility once people start work, more flexibility at interview and more flexibility in the arrangements for the reasonable accommodation, which the vast majority of the time is cost neutral or very low cost.

We advocated strongly for a reduction in the minimum number of hours required to access the wage subsidy scheme. It went from 21 hours to 15 hours and this is good. We should lower further the number of hours because a lot of families involved in Down Syndrome Ireland and Inclusion Ireland say it is still high for some people. We need to make the whole system more flexible. It is about knowing that a lot of people will not go through employment support services such as Intreo. They rely on services and job coaches. The whole culture of how people are supported and seen as being able to get a job and have a life of their own needs to change. Ireland is good compared to many other countries when it comes to getting away from having a special system, congregated settings and sheltered workshops. However, this transition needs to be met with money and supports. We are one step of the way but there are other steps that need to be taken.