Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Scanlon.

I wish to focus on section 9 of this Bill, namely, the earnings disregard for people with disabilities. Fianna Fáil welcomes this provision and the fact that any decision which denies entitlement to a benefit or payment will ultimately be made by a deciding officer. Currently, those on payments such as disability allowance or a blind person's pension may have the first €120 of their payments disregarded for the purposes of the means test governing eligibility for those schemes even though such earnings are allowable, provided the employment concerned is certified as being of a rehabilitative nature. In addition to that, moneys earned from the rehabilitative employment between €120 and €350 per week is assessed at 50% under the means test.

I note that the report of the interdepartmental group established under the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities provided that the requirement to prove that work is of this nature was unnecessary and such a requirement should be dispensed with. The Bill acknowledges this recommendation in respect of the earnings disregard for the aforementioned payments.

The most recent SIF report provides that those on disability payments are at various stages of poverty and deprivation to the point that they are lagging far behind that of the general population. In that regard, I very much welcomed the recent introduction of the Ability programme for young people with disabilities and while this will hopefully assist those who need help to enter into the labour market, we cannot forget those who are already in the system. We need to move away from placing further restrictions and obstacles in their way. The Bill goes some way towards this.

As the Fianna Fail spokesperson for disabilities, I have seen first-hand the hardships experienced by persons with disabilities. Since taking up this position I have continuously called for the formal ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is hard to believe that ten years after signing up to it, it remains unratified. The Taoiseach told me in this Chamber last week that the Government is taking a different approach from that of the other countries in Europe that have ratified it. I point out to the Minister of State that it certainly is; it is a very hands off approach. If it takes this long to implement a measure that was signed in 2007, we will not make many inroads into achieving social inclusion for those with disabilities. We need to ensure that people with disabilities are given equality of opportunity in order that they can participate in society to the best of their abilities.

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