Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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1192. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the way her Department is improving services and increasing supports for persons with disabilities during 2017. [34038/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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The Government has stated its ongoing commitment to improving services and supports for people with disabilities within the Programme for a Partnership Government and through the Comprehensive Employment Strategy (CES) for people with disabilities.

As part of delivering on this commitment, Budget 2017 provided for €5 increases in the maximum weekly rates of all social insurance and social assistance payments, including the blind pension, disability allowance, illness benefit and invalidity pension. It also provided for the extension of entitlement to invalidity pension and treatment benefit to the self-employed and for a new pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities.

Under the CES an interdepartmental “Make Work Pay” group was established and its report, published earlier this year, included a number of recommendations designed to assist people with disabilities achieve their employment ambitions. In launching the report, the Government announced that people with a long-term disability payment who move off the payment to get a job will retain their free travel pass for a period of five years. The Government has also decided to accept the report’s recommendation to dispense with the requirement that work be of a ‘rehabilitative nature’ for the disability allowance earnings disregard. This means that a report from a doctor is no longer required before commencing work and that the focus is on capacity rather than incapacity. Other recommendations relate to extending the principle of “early intervention” to disability allowance and other disability payments. The Government has promised a period of consultation with persons with disabilities on these recommendations in particular. The Department of Social Protection has started this process of consultation with the disability sector.

Also under the CES, the Department has in recent years rolled out its full Intreo service to people with disabilities who wish to avail of the service on a voluntary basis. In such cases, people with disabilities who present at an Intreo Centre will be offered an interview by an employment support officer with a view to agreeing a suitable action plan. Progress in implementing actions under the Strategy is regularly reported by the Department to the Comprehensive Employment Strategy Implementation Group. The Chair of this Group, Mr Fergus Finlay, presented his first progress report in March 2017. The report notes the work advanced by the Department to build the capacity of its Intreo service to better support persons with disabilities who want to pursue further education, training or work opportunities and the progress being made in upskilling staff to better support claimants with disabilities.

I hope this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.