Dr. Aideen Hartney:

I thank Senator McGreehan. In addressing this, I will be able to address some of the points raised by Senator Seery Kearney as well. Employment, unfortunately, is one of those areas where a whole-of-system approach is required so it is hard to isolate a single solution. We are quite fortunate in Ireland in having a comprehensive employment strategy with a suite of actions committed to by Departments and public bodies to address this area. It begins from early on by raising expectations that persons with disabilities can have employment and enjoy their jobs, right through to the education system and effective career guidance and to managing transitions between education and further education, training and employment.

We advise that all of those areas need attention. One of the critical areas, however, on which the NDA has advised previously is the importance of employer engagement in the form of giving employers the support, advice and information they need to feel confident they can employ persons with disabilities. This is about ensuring they understand and can see the business case for employing people with disabilities but also that they are tooled up or have capacity built to provide reasonable accommodations. We have research and guidance ourselves in this area but we know that IHREC itself will be developing a code of practice for employers and we will have some guidance in this area with some of those practical supports as well. One other area I will highlight before finishing is the need for a co-ordinated national programme of supported employment for people who might need additional supports in employment, be it a job coach or assistance with the employer liaison piece. While some service providers are providing these supports locally or on an ad hocbasis, there is certainly no consistency of approach and no national support for same. A number of Departments have committed to a policy in supported employment and we advise on the importance of moving to implementation as early as possible in that regard.