Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We had a four-week consultation process in June with people with disabilities, employers and the public and received over 1,000 submissions. As part of the budget we allocated an additional €3.7 million to expand the scheme. This will reduce the minimum number of hours required. The increase in the previous budget was a significant one and we are now in a situation where employers are getting almost half of the minimum wage, which is substantial. I expect that increased awareness of, and improvements to, the scheme on foot of the review will increase the demand from employers in 2024. The additional funding allocated will be required to meet the extra demand. Administrative and IT work is under way to implement this change in quarter 2 of 2024. Any further revisions to the scheme will be carried out in the context of the recommendations contained in the final report.

See this speech in context