Margaret Murphy O'Mahony
Question:19. Deputy Margaret Murphy O'Mahony asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the key measures in the Action Plan for Jobs 2017 for persons with disabilities. [14449/17]
View answerThursday, 23 March 2017
Questions (19)
Written answers
Since the first Action Plan for Jobs was launched in early 2012, almost 206,000 more people are at work. Over 66,000 jobs were created during 2016. Employment growth is spread across all regions and all sectors of the economy and society.
In February, we published the Action Plan for Jobs 2017. This Government's goal is to ensure that all of our people have the opportunity to enjoy rewarding work and to participate and contribute to their full potential to our economy and society.
The 2017 Action Plan sets out a whole of Government response to secure employment and retain jobs in the face of global uncertainty by strengthening the resilience and agility of our enterprise base. In developing APJ 2017, I had a number of discussions with my colleague Minister Finian McGrath T.D., Minister of State with special responsibility for Disabilities and with representatives of the disability sector. Minister McGrath will shortly publish a new strategy Make Work Pay to address the under-representation of people with disabilities in the workforce.
The 2017 Plan commits to the implementation of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for Persons with Disabilities and ensures that people who are able to, and want to work are supported and enabled. This strategy falls under the remit of the Department for Justice and Equality. There are a range of measures to equip people with the skills to avail of job opportunities as they arise, including activation measures under Pathways to Work. The Government is also committed to increasing the target for employees with disabilities in the public sector towards 6 per cent by 2024 from the current level of 3.5%.
We will continue to work across Government to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to participate fully in the workforce.