Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if consideration will be given to funding tablets for jobseeker's supported by the EmployAbility service through the increased training suppler grant in order to assist familiarise them with online programmes to increase their confidence and chances of gaining employment. [29195/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The EmployAbility service both offers, and is associated with, a wide range of grants and provisions to support people with disabilities to secure and maintain paid employment in the open labour market.

Integration is the essential feature of the EmployAbility service: People with disabilities should have the same opportunities to participate in all activities and to work with and alongside other employees who do not have disabilities.

Together with the funding of the EmployAbility services, my Department also provides employment supports aimed at helping participants gain and retain employment as follows:

- Workplace Equipment Adaptation Grant which provides funding for a person with a disability who is starting or already in employment to make their workplace more accessible or equipment easier to use.

- Job Interview – Interpreter Grant which is a grant for an interpreter to accompany a person with a speech or hearing impairment to a job interview

- Personal Reader Grant which provides funding to employ a personal reader to assist someone who is blind or visually impaired in their work

- Employee Retention Grant Scheme (ERGS) which aims to help employers retain employees who become disabled through sickness or injury

- Wage Subsidy Scheme – financial assistance for private sector employers to encourage them to employ people with disabilities

- Disability Awareness Training for Employers – grants to employers to assist with the cost of disability awareness training

- EmployAbility Work Experience Programme – EmployAbility clients availing of the service can receive €20 per week towards costs.

The Department keeps the provision of these related supports under continual review. At present the specific supply of telecommunication devices to all customers is not under consideration. Any such proposal would have to be considered in terms of the necessity of such provision and an overall demonstration of a cost benefit.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.