Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018
1570. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the funding both allocated and drawn down for the reasonable accommodation fund in each of the years 2010 to 2017, in tabular form. [54412/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra1634. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the expenditure on the reasonable accommodation fund in each of the years 2012 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1241/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1570 and 1634 together.
The reasonable accommodation fund for the employment of people with disabilities assists employers in the private sector to take appropriate measures to enable a person with a disability/impairment to have access to employment by providing a range of grants. These grants and supports include:
- the workplace equipment and adaptation grant,
- the personal reader grant,
- the job interview interpreter grant, and
- the employee retention grant.
The reasonable accommodation fund is a demand led scheme in that expenditure arises in response to applications received. Given the small scale of this programme, a separate estimate for each of these grants is not set out in the revised estimates volume and only actual expenditure data is available. The data available is set out in the following table. Data in respect of 2010 and 2011 is not available as this scheme transferred from FÁS into this Department in 2012. No expenditure has been recorded to date in respect of 2018.
Table: Expenditure on the Reasonable Accommodation Fund for People with Disabilities
|
Year |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
|
Workplace equipment and adaptation grant |
€71,176 |
€81,724 |
€61,776 |
€58,108 |
€54,041 |
€69,254 |
|
Personal reader grant |
€27,274 |
€27,526 |
€14,499 |
€11,866 |
€16,537 |
€31,619 |
|
Job interview interpreter grant |
€6,355 |
€2,767 |
€1,589 |
€3,950 |
€7,244 |
€5,714 |
|
Employee retention grant |
€4,320 |
€0 |
€0 |
€0 |
€0 |
€0 |
|
Total |
€109,125 |
€112,017 |
€77,864 |
€73,925 |
€77,822 |
€106,587 |
