Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 30 together.

The action plan for jobs is a whole-of-Government programme which includes commitments from all Departments and a significant number of State agencies to take actions to support job creation. The aim of the action plan is to create a supportive operating environment for businesses in order to allow employment to grow across all sectors, and for people of all abilities. The plan is working.

Apart from the measures which are aimed at increasing employment across the economy as a whole, action 240 of the 2013 action plan is specifically aimed at promoting the employability of groups that have experienced labour market disadvantage, including those with disabilities. This action is being progressed by the Equality Authority, which comes under the remit of the Minister for Justice and Equality. An update on this commitment was included in the second progress report on the 2013 action plan, which is available on my Department’s website. A further update will be provided in the fourth progress report, which will be published shortly.

The Department of Social Protection also provides a range of labour market services for people with disabilities, including training and employment programmes. In more general terms, many of the schemes which have been introduced by the Government to help people progress into employment,such as the new JobsPlus scheme and the JobBridge internship programme,are open to people with disabilities.

I am currently finalising the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs for the Government’s approval and I hope it will include new actions to support the employment of people with disabilities. My Department’s officials had a very constructive meeting recently with the National Disability Authority on how actions to support the employment of people with disabilities could be integrated in this year’s plan, based on the authority’s own activities and objectives for 2014. The 2014 Action Plan for Jobs will be published shortly, following approval by the Government.

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