Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

594. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department intends to develop an awareness campaign promoting the benefits of employing disabled persons to employers, the wider community and disabled persons themselves; if any such consideration has been given to same; and the associated potential costings of this campaign.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38941/22]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department is advancing an action under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for Persons with Disability (CES) to deliver an employer awareness campaign to support the increased employment of people with disabilities in Ireland. This work was intended to have completed at an earlier stage in the Strategy's implementation, but was paused during the pandemic.

The proposed campaign is intended to promote attitudinal changes by highlighting the ability of persons with disabilities in the workforce, the value of workplace diversity, and by addressing concerns or inhibitions that employers may have which create invisible barriers for people with disabilities who can work and who want to work.

The employer awareness campaign, which we intend to roll out in the second half of 2022, will be focused on supporting the enhanced recruitment of people with disabilities into workplaces across Ireland.

In terms of the communications methods to be utilised as part of the campaign, impact and reach will be the driving factors in determining appropriate strategies. Funding for the campaign was secured under the Dormant Accounts Initiative, and I secured in Budget 2022 to promote awareness around the UNCRPD.

Engagement with stakeholders on the parameters of the campaign, the key messages to be communicated, and the media to be utilised in delivering it, will inform the final cost, and preparatory work is ongoing in this regard.

In terms of action to date my Department already supports an employer outreach programme. My Department has provided funding to the Open Doors Initiative to deliver the ‘Employers for Change’ project since 2020. The project comprises a website with information and a helpline through which information and advice can be sought, along with capacity building programmes delivered to employers and prospective employers of people with disabilities.

Employers for Change provides information to employers directly to address concerns that they may have about the ability of individuals with disabilities to carry out a job or their capacity as employers to support people with disabilities in the workplace. The fear of making mistakes can act as a significant barrier to employers and the Employers for Change project had demonstrated successfully that increased knowledge, awareness and understanding addresses such barriers well.