Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Ó Cearúil and Ó Murchú for raising this. I agree with them on housing. We will bring that to the Minister, Deputy Browne for attention. Deputy Ó Murchú raised the reasonable accommodation fund. My Department published a review of that scheme in 2023 and we have made changes. The new scheme offers seven supports to help reduce and remove barriers in the workplace for people with disability, including support for communication, job coaches, personal readers, work equipment, workplace adaptations and training. Jobseekers, employees, self-employed people and employers can apply for those supports both for business premises and remote workplaces. The scheme is being expanded to all non-public sector employees, including the community and voluntary sector. In July 2024, we launched the work and access to replace former schemes. We published a review of the wage subsidy scheme. Through the WorkAbility programme, which is a fantastic programme nationwide, we are bringing much more awareness of supports available for people with disabilities in work spaces but also supports that are available for employers. That touches on the Deputy's concerns that we are not communicating enough to employers about the supports that are there to assist them to employ people with disability. As a former Minister of State with the Department of enterprise, I will be focused on bringing communication to employers that there are supports there, not just to adapt their premises but to support them as employers to take on people with disability and allow them to make a full contribution to society.

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