Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I may be incorrect but I understand this is a social protection matter, which the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is managing at the moment. I think this is only a discussion document or something at that level. It is not actually a proposal at this stage so of course we will listen to people who have views and submissions on it.

Among the things that we have done to encourage more people with disabilities into the workforce are grants for employers to install equipment, subsidies to employ people with disabilities, setting a higher target for public bodies to employ people with disabilities and giving people with disabilities the assurance that they will not lose their travel pass or medical card should they take up a trial of employment.

The Deputy is correct that there are statistics that indicate Ireland has the lowest level of employment of people with disabilities. I would like to drill down into that, quite frankly. I do find it a bit strange that some countries where disabled people can barely get around at all perform better than us, for example in eastern and southern Europe. I think that should be drilled down into a bit further.

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