Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If we are hoping that employers are taking long-term decisions when they decide to take on people with disabilities, which we should be, then we need to offer them a certain amount of predictability. I know the subsidy is not currently linked to the minimum wage but the Government should consider linking the two. I appreciate that the subsidy is not small and that it was increased. It should be noted that it is not just employers who are concerned about this issue. Organisations representing people with disabilities are quite concerned about it as well and have raised it with me. The fact is that employers who have taken on people with disabilities are very obviously €1.40 per hour less well off than they were under the previous minimum wage. That is statistically the case. Surely the Minister of State will accept that the differential advantage has been eroded. Is this going to be examined over the course of the next 12 months? Will the Department consider linking the two? It would be logical that they should keep pace and that the advantage and incentive remains the same.

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