Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, to the House.This is an important debate and I am glad to be given the opportunity to contribute to it. I had hoped it would not be held on Thursday as it should have been given one of the prime slots.

The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, brings significant credibility to his brief. He has walked the walk all his life. He understands it implicitly. He brings a range of skills, both with regard to intellect and, more practically, what it is like to have to deal with disabilities over a lifetime. I commend him on that. The Minister of State knows of my interest in this issue. I am involved with various disability organisations and am particularly keen in respect of the leadership and advocacy students in Limerick Institute of Technology. The Minister of State was at its most recent awards ceremony. I think he is coming to it on 19 June and they are very excited about his impending arrival. Martina Neylon is one of the unsung heroes, of whom there are many in the disability area, who works with this group. They are coming from all the disability services in the mid-west, including the Daughters of Charity, Bawnmore, St. Gabriel's and St. Joseph's Foundation. The Minister of State is well aware of this.

The National Platform of Self Advocates was involved in a meeting, hosted by either it or the Minister of State, on 30 January in the audiovisual room that we all attended. It was an inspiring day with people with disabilities advocating for themselves. They let us know in no uncertain terms the areas that were good and the areas that they felt could be improved. I want to deal with a couple of those. There is a target of bringing the 3% target to 6% over the next four to five years. I do not know if the Minister of State has given what the figure currently is. I did not see it in the speech. That should be a minimum target which we have to reach. How do we get there? I do not think there is any target for the private sector but I believe there is willingness in the private sector to embrace people with disabilities. The question is how do we create an environment with structures to enable employers to employ people with disabilities and for people with disabilities to be able to assimilate into the set-up. I see many people coming into the programmes here in Leinster House. It is very welcome. They are a significant addition.

JobBridge did not give internships a particularly good name but if internship programmes are structured properly, they are a fantastic introduction into the work environment. I welcome the fact that they are being looked at. They certainly need to be furthered in the area of disabilities. I note that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is looking at it. It could perhaps be extended to the private sector. At the meeting on 30 January, a number of items came up. They related to engaging with the employer groups such as the Irish SME Association, ISME, IBEC and the chambers to see what could be done to put in supports for employees with disabilities. I know that the work is under way. When there are meetings, we would love to be involved. An area of particular interest to me is career guidance. I note that the Department of Education and Skills is carrying out a comprehensive review of that area.

Many of these measures are practical and I do not think they should be overcomplicated. One wants someone with disabilities to have a CV structured like anyone else's, to accentuate the skill sets that he or she has, in order that an employer can see very quickly how it would benefit from employing that person. We are moving into that area. The Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016 is currently before Dáil Éireann and I expect it to come before us pretty quickly. There are a couple of positives. The changes to the disability allowance are welcome. The increase in disregard to €300 is welcome. The key feature that we have often come across is that people on disability allowance are petrified about going off the disability allowance for fear that they will never get back on it. They could have a situation where they give up the allowance and it is uncertain whether they are capable of going back to work or not. They then go back to work and are not able to function. They then turn around, are not available for work because they are not capable of working, and at the same time they find it extremely difficult to get back on disability allowance. I know that is being looked at. It probably needs constant review because it often comes up.

The legislation coming before us is to be welcomed. One size does not fit all and we have to look at inventive, imaginative ways to enable people with disabilities to be able to go into the workplace. That may mean that it may suit them to work just ten or 20 hours a week. Equally, I believe that there is a willingness among many employers to take on people with disabilities. However, they are in business and they are worried about the impact that it will have. We have to provide reassurance about this area. It comes down to training. One thing that came up with the National Platform of Self Advocates at our meeting in the audiovisual room was that they were fed up with being pigeonholed into certain jobs. Many of them felt that there were other tasks that they could do. We need to look at ways, both in the public and private sector, of expanding the roles would be available to people with disabilities. That might involve training. One of the key conduits is internships. There needs to be formal engagement with employers' groups. The Minister might let me know where that is.