Mr. Declan Hughes:

I assure the Deputy that this is an issue that is under active consideration in the Department with the Minister. I thank her for noting the Department's own policies on equality, diversity, and inclusion in the Department. We have a strong performance in accommodating and increasing numbers of people with disability who are in employment in the Department therefore we are good on that but we recognise right across the enterprise base that there are, and continue to be, barriers or issues related to participation. In census 2016, 36% of people with disabilities reported being in employment. There is quite a significant cohort there for whom there are access issues or there is untapped potential. We need to establish what the routes are back into rewarding employment.

I will mention some of the things our agencies and the Department is doing but as the Deputy mentioned, they all fit under the national disability and inclusion strategy and the comprehensive employment strategy. From our perspective, I will talk about some of things we are doing. First, there is the engagement with a range of groups and NGOs to understand what the issues are and reviewing the range of supports that are there at the moment. There are initiatives such as the JobsPlus scheme, which provides additional support and essentially payments to employers to take on those with disabilities, particularly those who have been long-term unemployed. There are also a range of grants, etc. The issue is to review that package of supports. We have been working on this for a number of years now with Enterprise Ireland, EI, the local enterprise offices, LEOs, and Industrial Development Authority, IDA, Ireland. Enterprise Ireland is focusing particularly on supports for entrepreneurs and those with disabilities who are looking at their own business or job opportunities but also to working with companies to increase access. Both EI and the IDA have signed partnership agreement with the Open Doors Initiative to develop awareness campaigns and programmes that utilise success stories of self-employment and entrepreneur road models. The LEOs are progressing a new online course for entrepreneurship for people with disabilities, which will begin in September this year, and we hope to bring a high profile to that. IDA Ireland is working very closely with a range of bodies and representative groups regarding access for companies. It will return as headline sponsor for the legacy campaign, Dublin23, which is designed for future leaders to reimagine their community and the work place and environments 20 year into the future. IDA Ireland will also sponsor 20 spaces for under-represented groups to attend. Last year, those spaces went to groups such as Open Doors Initiative, the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, MASI, Exchange House Ireland, Sanctuary Runners, the Traveller Graduate Network, NCBI, and as the Deputy mentioned, Youthreach.