Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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The 'Ability' programme is a new pre-activation programme for young people with disabilities. The 27 projects to be funded will provide supports and assistance to more than 2,600 young people with disabilities aged between15 to 29 years old. The programme will promote employment prospects and meaningful social roles for young people with disabilities and in particular, young people who are distant from the labour market, using a range of person-centred supports.

The initiative is being co-funded by the Exchequer and the EU (under the European Social Fund, as part of the ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020) which demonstrates the commitment, at both a Governmental and EU level, to supporting and assisting young people with disabilities to achieve their individual employment and other goals.

Pobal have been contracted by DEASP to manage the programme including the application and evaluation process for the proposals received. Details of the application process are available on Pobal's website (under “Useful Links”) at https://www.pobal.ie/FundingProgrammes/Ability%20Programme/Pages/Ability%20Programme.aspx.

The assessment process was therefore based on the materials provided by the applicant as to how they proposed to address the objectives of the scheme in line with the award criteria, as set out above. This process was applied irrespective of where the application originated. Therefore, the likelihood that an application based in an individual county would receive funding was based on the number of applications from that county and on an objective assessment by Pobal of the quality of that application.

The Ability programme attracted applications from 59 projects: applications were received from organisations in 22 counties. There were 13 counties in total for which only one application was received. Counties for which an application was received but could not be recommended for funding by Pobal include-Sligo, Donegal, Carlow, Clare, Westmeath and Waterford.

It is also important to note that while some of the successful applications came from organisations that are headquartered or based in particular locations, some of the projects will be providing services beyond that county in which they are based, and in some cases providing services across the country.

In addition to the Ability programme, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection continues through its nationwide network of Intreo offices and through the EmployAbility service (a specialist service that has been designed to support people with disabilities-which is delivered on behalf of the department by 23 companies located around the country) to offer a full range of supports and services to people with disabilities who wish to pursue their employment ambitions.