Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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17. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if the walk peer project or a similar scheme based on this model under the disability activation project will be re-opened and-or expanded. [33144/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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This project was one of 14 disability activation projects (DACT), in the Border, Midlands & West region, which were jointly funded (€7m) by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Department of Social Protection (DSP), from the end of 2012 to April 2015.

The objective of the DACT project was to explore a variety of routes towards ensuring that people with disabilities were enabled to avail of progression, education and development opportunities within the world of work.

In relation to WALK Peer, the project supported a total of 119 participants during the lifetime of the project, with 12 participants remaining in education or some form of employment after 12 months.

A key criterion applied when selecting projects was that any learning from the projects should be capable, where appropriate, of being mainstreamed in the future, but there was never any question of the projects turning into service delivery organisations in their own right.

DSP commissioned Indecon International Economic Consultants to undertake an independent evaluation of the DACT project. The evaluation report will be examined by an inter-Departmental group, chaired by the Department and comprising of the National Disability Authority and representatives of Departments who have commitments under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES) to consider the findings and appropriate next steps. It is also envisaged, that as part of its work, representatives from some of the DACT projects will be afforded an opportunity to engage with the working group.