Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the news that credit unions will be allowed to offer mortgages. This is a significant development. It is very important for communities right across the country, including my community in Tipperary. Our own credit union in Clonmel will be celebrating 60 years in existence on 1 June. The Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, will be coming down for the occasion. She met a stakeholder of the credit unions approximately two or three months ago. She had a really good engagement about the kind of work credit unions do. Being able to offer mortgages will allow them to expand on that work.

I ask the Leader for a debate with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on opportunities in the workforce for people with disabilities. I acknowledge my colleague, Senator Conway, who just raised this issue. We have been working together over the past number of weeks. We visited the National Learning Network in Tallaght, whose representatives outlined the opportunities for people with disabilities to go into the workforce. They say that more could be done. Earlier, the committee of which I am a member had a very interesting meeting with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland and the Open Doors Initiative about the sorts of schemes that need to be put in place. One simple measure they spoke about, which is particularly for people who are visually impaired, is the legal requirement for jobs that are advertised on publicjobs.ie and irishjobs.ie to be digitally visual. There should not be pop-up screens that will make it very difficult for someone who is visually impaired to view information. Those companies have not adhered to the legal requirements that are in place. There are approximately 600 other organisations and companies that advertise jobs but that make it very difficult for people with disabilities, especially those who are visually impaired, to access the information relating to those job opportunities.

We speak about the low numbers of people with disabilities in the workforce. Ireland ranks the lowest in Europe in this regard. Ireland's rate is 32%, which is lower than the average of over 50%. Our rank is particularly low when it comes to people who are visually impaired. If we cannot even give them the opportunity to see what jobs are available on their computers - it is a legal requirement for the companies to which I refer to do so - then we are not tackling the issue in the way that we should. I request a debate with the Minister on this matter.