Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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425. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the expenditure on the reasonable accommodation fund in each of the years 2012 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14745/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The reasonable accommodation fund assists employers to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability/impairment to have access to employment by providing a range of grants. These grants and supports include the workplace equipment adaptation grant, the personal reader grant, the job interview interpreter grant and the employee retention grant.

The purpose of the scheme is to assist unemployed people with disabilities to gain access to the open labour market by providing grants for “reasonable accommodations” in the private sector and to support private sector employers in the employment of people with disabilities.

The reasonable accommodation fund is a demand-led scheme in that expenditure arises in response to applications received. The actual expenditure on this fund is set out in the following table.

Table: Expenditure on the Reasonable Accommodation Fund for People with Disabilities

* 1 January 2018 – 28 March 2018

I hope this clarifies the issue for the Deputy.