Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 July 2022
586. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way that his Department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing action 32 of the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021 (details supplied). [38730/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to the protection of human rights and the promotion of equality for its employees, customers, external stakeholders and interested parties. Our latest Statement of Strategy (2021-2024) sets out as a core value “A strong commitment to diversity, inclusion and the fair and equal treatment of all” and this applies both internally and externally.
My Department aims to ensure that the needs of all its customers, including people with disabilities are met and that the rights of equal treatment are upheld in the delivery of services. In accordance with Section 26(2) of the Disability Act 2005, two Access Officers are appointed who are responsible for providing or arranging for, assistance and guidance to persons with disabilities accessing services provided by the Department, when requested, and generally to act as a point of contact for people wishing to access such services.
In addition to the Access Officers, Department officials are available in all regions to provide assistance to applicants who have questions or concerns on any scheme operated by the Department. We have an Accessibility officer to facilitate contact with the Department and take suitable measures as necessary. For instance, my Department commissioned a digital recording of all our schemes and services to assist a customer with reading difficulties, supplied documents in Braille to assist a visually impaired customer and provided Irish Sign Language interpretation services for onsite meetings with our customers when requested.
My Department’s Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) fosters awareness of equality and disability issues among staff and provides support, advice and guidance to both staff and managers around reasonable accommodation requests to ensure employees with a disability have equal opportunities throughout their career in my Department.
We frequently engage with the National Disability Authority regarding policies relevant to persons with disabilities.
My Department is represented on a range on interdepartmental committees of relevance to the representation of people with disabilities. These include:
- Working Group on the development of a Well-being Framework for Ireland
- Oireachtas Disability Group
- Interdepartmental Committee on Human Rights
- Interdepartmental Committee on access to services by ‘off-line’ citizens
My Department supports the AHEAD (Association for Higher Education and Disability) Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) Programme which aims to promote access to the workplace for graduates with disabilities. During 2021 my Department facilitated four paid and mentored placements under the WAM programme for suitably qualified candidates. Many former WAM participants have gone on to secure permanent employment. It is planned to facilitate further placements on this programme during 2022.
The Oireachtas Work Learning Programme (OWL), which was launched by the Ceann Comhairle in September 2018 is an unpaid applied learning, development and socialisation programme for young adults with an intellectual disability. The Programme aims to support individuals in developing the skills and confidence which will lead them to access paid employment in the open labour market. My Department collaborated with the Houses of the Oireachtas in facilitating three trainee placements on the 2019/20 programme. Many graduates of this programme have now gone on to secure permanent employment in the Public sector and one of the graduates recently joined my Department in a permanent post.
The move of my Department’s website to the www.gov.ie portal enabled the redesign of this platform to comply with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and National Disability Authority (NDA) guidelines. This includes ensuring that content on the website is at a suitable reading comprehension level.
As regards the 12 State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves. I have referred the Deputy’s question to the Agencies and have requested that a response should issue within 10 days.
