Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, to the House. In this Commencement matter, I am seeking an extension of the reasonable accommodation fund to the public sector and, in light of our extensive obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, that it be changed to a person-centred fund rather than an employer-centred fund.

Currently, there are schemes in place for private sector employees and employers. The reasonable accommodation fund enables employers of employees with a disability to take appropriate measures to help them to access, improve or retain their employment by way of the following grants: the workplace equipment adaptation grant, the job interview interpreter grant, the personal reader grant and the employee retention grant. However, public sector employers and employees cannot access these grants. Public sector employers include Departments, State agencies, the HSE and local authorities. Public sector employers must facilitate staff who have a disability through the provision of assistive technology adaptive equipment, facilities, aids and appliances and they must also meet that cost. The critical point is that the management of each Department or State agency must decide where to expend money within their respective departments in the context of budgetary constraints.

I want to highlight one of many cases in the public sector where an employee is being treated disgracefully because of budgetary constraints and the autonomy within each sector.The following are the words of an employee of this State:

I first submitted an application in 2007. Since then, I have been sent to a doctor. I had the NCBI in a meeting with management to show the merits of the device, reports from the NBCI an doctors recommending it. I was told to sell it to them - make a business case, what benefit is it to this organisation as the benefit to you is immaterial. This is now 2021 and we are no further on. They refuse to accept that with this technology I will be able to do my work better, do a more diverse range of work, have more confidence and I would be able to feel and I would be able to progress in this organisation. I am now exhausted and constantly demeaned as I have to go with my begging bowl. I am retracting inwards and I know I am not valued within this organisation because I am visually impaired.

Those are the really upsetting words of a public sector employee. The issue is that it is within the gift of management to provide this employee with assistive technology but only if it is within budgetary constraints. If the fund was extended to the public sector, this sort of begging would not be necessary. A person with a disability, if in employment, should not be dependent on his or her employer to obtain a grant from the State. It should really be individual. We must give the person with a disability autonomy and ownership of the grant. It would mean that the person in receipt of the grant would feel more independent and would have the autonomy to move from one job to another.

A review of the grant scheme would be very beneficial. Under Article 27 of the UN Convention of Persons with Disabilities, every person with a disability has a right to work and should be enabled to participate in the workforce on an equal basis. Under the comprehensive strategy for people with disabilities, the Government has committed to increasing the public service employment target for persons with disabilities from a minimum of 3% to 6% by 2024. Given that approximately 15% of our population is considered to have a disability, a target of 6% is very low. That said, if we open up the reasonable accommodation fund grant to individuals and extend it to the public sector, we will make our society and our public sector fairer for everyone.