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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 4 Jul 2001

Vol. 540 No. 2

Written Answers. - Employment Support Services.

Pat Rabbitte

Ceist:

70 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the steps he is taking to ensure young people who are claiming disability allowance are supported and encouraged into employment and training; if he intends setting targets to reduce the level of people aged under 20 who are dependent on disability allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20090/01]

The Government is committed to ensuring that the needs and aspirations of people with disabilities, their families, carers and advocates are comprehensively addressed and has placed their needs as a key issue on the agenda of every Department and public body.

It is generally recognised that employment and training offer important routes for people with disabilities to achieve economic and social independence. That is why the Government has arranged for the transfer of responsibility for employment and vocational training of people with disabilities from the Department of Health and Children to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Employment and vocational training policies for people with disabilities are now dealt with as part of general labour market policy and have, as a priority, clear progression routes from sheltered work, supported work and sheltered employment to employment options in the open labour market.

For its own part, my Department has been endeavouring to ensure that the social welfare system does not act as a disincentive to people with disabilities in taking up available employment and training opportunities. The system is therefore, being adapted from one of passive support to a position of facilitating people with disabilities who wish to take up available employment and training opportunities. Substantial progress has been made in recent years in relation to the supports available to people with disabilities to encourage them to become more self-reliant. One of these measures is the extension of the back-to-work allowance to claimants of disability allowance and blind person's pension. Access to this scheme was further extended to recipients of invalidity pension and unemployability supplement from September 2000. In addition, the back-to-education allowance has also been extended to all of the above categories.

These measures complement the existing employment supports, which were previously available through the NRB and are now available through FÁS. These are of particular importance to people with disabilities in gaining access to the open labour market. However, it is accepted that many people with disabilities are not in a position to engage in such employment. Additional measures are, therefore, required to facilitate people with disabilities so that they can engage in other forms of employment and training, such as sheltered or rehabilitative employment. In this regard, a special earnings disregard applies in the case of people with disabilities in receipt of disability allowance and blind person's pension who are engaged in rehabilitative employment. This earnings disregard was increased by 50% from £50 to £75 a week from April 2000. In addition, the enhanced £75 rehabilitative earnings disregard was extended to those in self-employment.
Despite the many social welfare improvements for people with disabilities in recent years, it is recognised that more needs to be done. In particular, we need to put in place preventive strategies to stop people becoming isolated. For example, one in five of those who claim disability allowance from my Department are 20 years of age or under. One quarter are aged 25 or less. We owe it to these young people to make sure that they have a chance to participate fully in the education and employment opportunities which are available.
That is why I have asked my Department and FÁS to work together to ensure that young people claiming disability allowance are given the opportunity, on a voluntary basis, to participate in education, training and work opportunities.
As the intention is to encourage and facilitate young people with disabilities to participate in these opportunities where their physical condition and social circumstances so warrant, I do not consider that the setting of targets for reducing the number of people under 20 years on disability allowance would be helpful in this regard.
Question No. 71 answered with Question No. 35.
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