Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a Green Paper and it is for consultation and discussion. We usually have strawman proposals but we actually spoke to some of the groups and they said that they wanted to call it a Green Paper. The Deputy knows what is done with a strawman. Bits are taken out and put in, everything is moved about and we come up with a different man when we are finished. That is what this is about. It is about hearing the views of the stakeholders. These are the people with whom we talk, their representative groups and the disability organisations.

We also have to be honest. Ireland is below the EU average for employment rates for people with disabilities. I have worked to enhance the supports we have in my Department, whether that is the EmployAbility services, the reasonable accommodation fund, the WorkAbility programme or the wage subsidy scheme for people with disabilities but we need to do more to work with people and make them aware of the supports. This is about helping people who want to work; this is not about making anybody do anything that they do not want to do, or are not comfortable with. We will not force anything on anybody and, as I said, nobody will be moved off a disability payment or have their current payment reduced.

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