Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Will the Minister of State explain to the House the reason for the failure to meet these targets? There is an exceptionally low level of employment among people with disabilities. In 1977, a 3% employment target was set in regard to people with disabilities in the Civil and public service workforce. The target was never met yet I hear that ongoing monitoring and review processes have been set up. What are those processes telling us? What are the reasons for this failure to enable people with disabilities to find employment? Such reasons are not clear from any data I have seen published by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment or other Departments, and the various representative organisations are not in a position to identify the reasons for this total failure to meet the targets.

In 2002, over 4,000 people with disabilities were employed on community employment schemes, which is a particularly high take-up. However, less than 10% of those progressed into the workforce. That figure indicates a willingness on the part of such unemployed people to enter the workforce yet less than 10% were able to achieve that. Does the monitoring and reporting to which the Minister of State referred give us any indication of how such a ludicrous situation came about? Can the Minister of State tell the House that the situation has improved as there has been no obvious sign of improvement in regard to this major issue? The monitoring of the progression of people with disabilities through various supportive pathways to the open market is needed yet I have not heard of this coming about. The Minister of State might outline the steps he proposes to correct that.

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