Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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713. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the status of the commitments in the programme for Government in relation to improving the lives of persons with disabilities. [29820/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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My Department is making progress across a number of commitments in the Programme for Government that relate to people with disabilities. In particular, the national network of Intreo centres is now available to people with disabilities who wish to engage, on a voluntary basis, with a case officer to develop a personal progression plan to assist them in exploring their employment goals. The programme also identifies the Comprehensive Employment Strategy as a key objective in securing better outcomes for persons with disabilities and in particular the issue of ensuring that “work always pays more than welfare”. In this regard, the “Make Work Pay” Report (MWP), designed to help people with disabilities overcome barriers to finding work, was published in April last. The report made 24 recommendations. A number of actions relevant to my Department have already been implemented including; 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; a “fast–track” reinstatement of Disability Allowance, or Invalidity Pension for people where employment does not work out; and development is underway on a new “ready reckoner”, to calculate the net benefits and financial implications of working.

Amending legislation dispensing with requirement that work must be of a rehabilitative nature is included in Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017. There is a considerable administrative burden attached to this process and therefore the proposed changes, in addition to refocussing on a person’s capacity and avoiding any misunderstanding around the rehabilitative nature of work, will result in a reduction in the administrative burden on doctors and on the Department.

In addition, following my commitment at the launch of the report my Department has engaged on a wider consultation process with disability sectoral groups, people with disabilities and parents of people with disabilities, on recommendations 9 and 10 of the MWP report relating to early interventions. This consultation process demonstrates my commitment to ensuring that people with disabilities have an opportunity to input into this important policy area.

Other areas where there is progress include: an evaluation of the EmployAbility service completed in 2016 followed by the establishment of a working group to commence implementation of the operational recommendations contained in the report; increases of €5 per week in the maximum rate of weekly social welfare payments from March 2017; and promoting employment supports available to people with disabilities at the Department’s Annual Jobs Fair.