Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has reached full employment according to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, but with only one in three people with a disability employed, we have the lowest employment rate in Europe according to the European Disability Forum.

The Oireachtas and the Ceann Comhairle are leading the way by example to try to address this with the Oireachtas work learning, OWL, training programme in the Houses. One reasons for the low rate of employment among people with disabilities is the additional cost for employers associated with employing them. For example, I know one young constituent who has been refused two work placements due to insurance costs faced by the employer. The Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands has recommended that the wage subsidy scheme payments for an employer to employ a person with a disability be increased to 70% of the minimum wage in order to help defray these costs. Will the Taoiseach support this recommendation?

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