Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for tabling this question. My Department has a responsibility, along with others, to ensure that increasing numbers of people with disabilities participate in the labour market and to do more in that regard. I acknowledge that, as a country, we are not where we need to be in this area and it will be a priority for me over the next year or so to change that. There are some good results within the public sector, where we are meeting targets. In my Department, for example, we are well above the 6% target that was set for the public sector and the same is true for IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland. However, that is not really the story. The story here is that across our economy there is full employment. Can we do more, through our agencies and through incentives for employers, to ensure that we provide opportunities for people with a disability to get paid work? I am determined to do more on that.

We do not rate well in comparison to other European countries in this space. Only slightly more than one third of people with a disability in Ireland have paid employment which is not good enough, particularly when we have such a wealth of employment opportunities in the country at the moment. I see people with a disability as a significant asset in terms of employment opportunities in Ireland. This is true for them, in terms of their own employment opportunities but also for employers. There are a number of good, innovative projects around the country that the Government is supporting. Indeed, there is a whole series of things being done by Enterprise Ireland and my Department that I can outline to the Deputy but it is an accepted criticism that, regardless of the positive things that are happening, they are not impactful enough right now. I will be conducting a review across my Department's agencies to see what we can do to improve Ireland's performance in this area. I am happy to put that on the record and again thank the Deputy for raising the issue.

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