asked the Minister for Health the number of sheltered workshops in Dublin; the average number employed; the average wages received; the average length of stay of patients; and if he is satisfied with the system as it is at present operating.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Sheltered Workshops.
38.
There are six sheltered workshops in Dublin receiving grants from public funds and providing sheltered employment facilities for 350 persons. Vocational training centres are not included in these figures.
Apart from the Workshop for the Blind in Rathmines, which is under State auspices, and the Hanbury Lane Workshop, which is operated by the Eastern Health Board, the workshops concerned are operated by private organisations and I have no detailed knowledge of their activities or disbursements.
Workers at the Hanbury Lane Workshop receive up to £5 a week and are entitled to retain any Social Welfare benefits as well. They are also entitled to a transport allowance.
Workers at the Workshop for the Blind receive an average wage of £23 a week.
In sheltered workshops a large number remain in employment indefinitely, but a proportion succeed in obtaining positions in open employment after varying periods of activation in the workshops.
I am giving consideration to the question of how these services could be improved.
May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary to investigate the case of a woman who told me that her son was getting £1 per week in Cherry Orchard Hospital sheltered workshop, out of which he pays his bus fare, and he does not qualify for social welfare benefits?
That is an individual case. I would like to get details of it.