Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2021
394. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department has oversight of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities 2015-2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59816/21]
View answerThe Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES) 2015 - 2024 is the primary vehicle for advancing the specific employment challenges faced by people with disabilities and my Department has responsibility for coordinating and supporting the implementation of this strategy.
The CES takes a cross-government approach, bringing together actions by Government Departments and Agencies to address the barriers and challenges to employment of people with disabilities. The CES’s strategic priorities are to build skills, capacity and independence, to provide bridges and supports into work, to make work pay, to promote job retention and re-entry to work, to provide coordinated and seamless supports and to engage employers.
Implementation of the Strategy is undertaken through agreed action plans and is monitored by an Implementation Group with an independent Chairperson: Fergus Finlay. Currently the group is implementing the CES Phase Two Action Plan which covers the period 2019 – 2021. The CES Phase Three Action Plan is being developed and it will inform actions that will continue to achieve progress under the strategy from 2022-2024.
