Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak on this important motion on disabilities and I thank my party colleague, Deputy Ó Caoláin, for tabling it. As Sinn Féin spokesperson on business, enterprise and innovation I will focus my contribution on some of the difficulties people with disabilities experience in the business and employment environment.

As stated in the motion, people with disabilities still suffer from exclusion from the working world. In the last census the unemployment rate among people with a disability was 26.3%, more than double the 12.9% rate for the whole population. At the beginning of this month Fergus Finlay, the chairman of the implementation group of the comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities, published his second report. Unfortunately, my time is limited so I cannot discuss all of it, but the report had some worrying findings. There is "a real danger of paralysis" in the priority four area of strategy, which is focused on retention in, and re-entry to, work. Also, there is "a huge area of proactive work that needs to be done" for strategic priority six, which is focused on engaging employers. Unfortunately, of the six strategic priority areas, only half of one is coloured green, indicating good progress. That is simply not good enough.

With regard to the public service targets for employment of people with disabilities, the chairman of the implementation group recommends that "the Government give serious consideration to achieving the 6% target in three years rather than six". That would involve an increase from 3% to 4% this year, with identical increases in 2019 and 2020. People with disabilities are being left behind in the economic recovery so the Government should take a lead in this area. As the country approaches full employment in the next couple of years, a concerted effort should be made to ensure the participation levels of people with disabilities rise in line with the number of people returning to work.

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