Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the way in which she will assist persons with disabilities to enter the workforce. [33146/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Government is anxious to facilitate increasing participation in employment for persons with a disability. The Department provides a wide range of work related supports for people with disabilities which play an important role in supporting participation by people with disabilities in the labour force. These include the wage subsidy scheme, the EmployAbility (supported employment) programme and the employment support programme for people with disabilities.

The wage subsidy scheme (WSS) is an employment support to the private sector for the employment of people with disabilities. The purpose of this demand-led programme is to increase the numbers of people with disabilities participating in the open labour market. The WSS provides financial incentives to private sector employers to hire people with a disability for between 21 and 39 hours per week under a contract of employment. In 2014, some 1,550 employees were being supported through this programme at a cost of €12.6 million.

The EmployAbility programme is a national employment service dedicated to improving employment outcomes for job seekers with a disability. EmployAbility participants are people with a disability who are able to work a minimum of 8 hours per week and who need the support of a job coach to obtain employment in the open labour market. In December 2014, some 2,936 people were availing of the service, and the cost of the service in 2014 was €8.5 million.

The employment support programme for people with disabilities provides various labour market supports for people with disabilities, assisting them with finding paid employment or preparing them for employment through a training or employment programme. The employment support programme is a demand-led grant scheme, with an expenditure of €0.34 million in 2014.

In addition to these work related supports, a person on disability allowance may voluntarily take up rehabilitative work and earn up to €120 per week without their payment being affected while their earnings of between €121 and €350 per week are assessed at 50% for means test purposes. Furthermore, the partial capacity benefit (PCB) is available to recipients of illness benefit (who have been in receipt of the payment for at least six months) or invalidity pension and who feel they have some capacity for work and wish to avail of employment opportunities. If awarded, PCB will allow them to continue to receive a percentage of their illness benefit or invalidity pension payment while working.