Ruairí Ó Murchú
Louth · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“It was hardly a shock to me and many others that he decided that the simplicity that was asked for by Sinn Féin last week, such that we would consider preparations for Irish unity, was not acceptable. Most people would see this as a possibility, even those who do not necessarily like the idea.”
“I welcome that. I have spoken previously to the Minister about the necessity of providing Mr. Delaney's report on the incident to Natasha and the wider family.”
“We will all be very interested to see what the new circular is. The Minister of State said it will be announced in September. A needs-based system is what we need. I would like to think the young boy I talked about would be able to avail of this. I will use him as an example. The correct assessments were carried out.”
“We just need to make sure that the circular is fit for purpose and that the young primary school child to whom I refer will be given the supports he requires. I will just finish reading from the communication to which I referred earlier.”
“We need to ensure that the engagement with Lebanon is ongoing. Are we happy with the interaction with the UN? There had been some issues relating to the coroner's court. Everyone needs to do everything that can be done to ensure truth and justice for the family of Private Seán Rooney.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle for all the flexibility she allows in this Chamber, and hopefully that will continue as we speak. I welcome an awful lot of what Deputy Devlin said.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,582 lines we hold for Ruairí Ó Murchú, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 19 of 32.
“Deputy Ryan O'Meara - To discuss the need to establish the countryside forum. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan - To discuss the increased number of wandering and malnourished horses in urban areas of Limerick. Deputy Thomas Gould - To discuss the Social Housing Construction Status Report for quarter 2 of 2025. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire - To discuss the docking of the MV Matthew in Marion Point or Passage West dockyard. The matters raised by Deputies Pádraig O'Sullivan, Pat the Cope Gallagher, Paul Nicholas Gogarty and Pa Daly have been selected for discussion.”
“Deputy Pa Daly - To discuss early intervention classes in Kerry. Deputy Louis O'Hara - To discuss the ban on turf cutting in Barroughter, Clonmoylan and Ardraigue bogs in County Galway. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness - To discuss policing issues in Waterford. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty - To discuss the need for the Department of Education and Youth to review its technical guidance documents and school design guide. Deputy Shane Moynihan - To discuss the provision of new school buildings in Balgaddy, Lucan, County Dublin. Deputy Colm Burke - To discuss funding for the provision of an integrated homeless health hub in Cork city. Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss the wastewater infrastructure deficit in Kerry. Deputy Louise O'Reilly - To discuss the impact of delays in the coroner's court.”
“I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Joe Neville - To discuss issues concerning the Ryevale House IPAS centre in Leixlip, County Kildare. Deputy Malcolm Byrne - To discuss ongoing human rights abuses against the Uyghurs. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan - To discuss the location for an FAI centre of excellence in Cork. Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin - To discuss the funding crisis at Meals on Wheels in Courtown. Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher - To discuss the overfishing and setting of unilateral quotas on mackerel by Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú - To discuss the post for radiographer clinical specialist ultrasound at Louth County Hospital.”
“We need the Minister of State to go back to the Government and request that it change its direction. Éire aontaithe - ar aghaidh linn le chéile.”
“We have the Oireachtas committee. Let us also have what could be called a forum. It does not have to be a citizens' assembly. We do not need ownership of it. We just need a facility where the full conversation happens on what a new Ireland can look like. This partition was forced upon us under the threat of imminent and terrible war by a British Government that wanted to continue its occupation and oppression. The Northern orange state is gone. We have an opportunity to build something real, to build something better, to build an Irish republic of thirty-two counties that delivers for all the people. What is wrong with that? Where we have a failure is on the part of the Fianna Fáil leader - Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach - in being the biggest obstacle to Irish unity at this point in time.”
“Partition has been a failure. It has a been failure for those communities, North and South. It has been a failure for unionists, nationalists and others. The Minister of State would agree with me in relation to that. Let us be absolutely clear, there has been an abject failure by this Government in relation to the necessary work as regards planning. Even for people who do not believe Irish unity is good idea, the fact that it is a possibility means logic would dictate that planning should occur. I accept a lot of what the Minister of State has said, but to be a clear, a referendum is a right that we need. There will never be pressure on a British Government when there is an Irish Government that does not in any way push it in relation to there being a referendum. What we are asking is that preparatory work be done.”
“We know about the costs they have. None of this is good enough. I call on the Government to recant, but I fear we will continue with this. We can definitely do better. I call on people to think of this when they vote, I hope for Catherine Connolly, in the presidential election.”
“We have often said that even with what is offered by the Government, unless rents are capped, money will go directly to the landlords. Then we have a big VAT reduction on the sale of apartments. Effectively, this will stuff hundreds of millions of euro into the pockets of developers in 2026 for apartments that would have been built regardless. This is hardly success. We can say the same about banks. There are no solutions for regular people who are being devastated by the cost-of-living crisis. I have stated this previously and I will repeat it. There is a particular issue the Government has failed on; there is no cost-of-disability payment. While there are promises to deliver it in the future, we have all seen the figures. Those with disabilities are being affected to the tune of €1,400 per year. That is how much they are worse off by.”
“That is exactly what has been delivered by this budget. We supported mortgage interest relief. It was Sinn Féin that proposed it. It took a considerable amount of time for the Government to act on it. The European Central Bank, ECB, interest rate is now down to 2%, but the Government continues this scheme because it will not stand up to the pillar banks that have left people as prisoners to their mortgages, trapped with vulture funds. People are being ripped off and I once again call on the Government to act on this. I do not know how many times we have been here talking about housing. Sinn Féin called for an increase to the renter's tax credit to put a full month's rent back in the renter's pocket. None of this has been delivered.”
“They will be worse off next year as a direct result of the decisions made in this year's budget. It is as simple as that. The Government plans to reduce the tax base while increasing the tax burden on workers, as has been said by many before me. The Parliamentary Budget Office has estimated it to be the equivalent of €1.1 billion. There were promises, not just about adjusting income tax. That is the equivalent. We just need to be honest and say there will be tax increases. What was promised during the election is not necessarily what has happened and the Government is happy enough that those who can afford the least will pay the most. There were other promises, such as ensuring workers do not find themselves in a position where they pay higher levels of income tax solely because of basic growth in their incomes.”
“This budget and this Finance Bill are beyond disappointing. It is straightforward. It is a budget that abandons working people to look after those at the very top. The Finance Bill is nothing but a huge level of broken promises, including on income tax and renter's tax credit. There are no changes to income tax for workers in the middle of what is a cost-of-living crisis that I assume everyone recognises while at the same time, a total of €2.5 billion in tax cuts have been handed to landlords, developers, investors and others. We had called on the Government to deliver something that was fairer tax package. We were talking about abolishing the USC on the first €40,000 that every worker earns. That would have put €746 into the pockets of workers.”
“We support Ukraine in the context of the absolutely brutal invasion by Russia. We would like to see proper development of a peace process and to do anything we can to facilitate that. We all know that communications from the White House are, at times, not necessarily things we can absolutely stand by. There is talk of a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. The Taoiseach has had engagement on this, particularly at European level. How does he see this progressing? All efforts need to be made - Russia is the aggressor - in the context of delivering a proper peace process. We have seen the issues even here. There has been increase in the number of younger men coming here. We have to work on the basis that they are men who are not looking to be involved in a war. We really need to create the conditions to bring about peace.”
“I am still waiting for a follow-up meeting with Uisce Éireann. I hope that will happen in the near future. However, we also need to ensure resourcing and finances are made available.”
“We have to see delivery of the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme on flood protections, even in the short term. In estates like the one I am from, Bay Estate, there are issues with people trying to get flood insurance. Some who have bought houses recently are looking for letters of comfort which people used to get from the local authority, but are no longer available. The letters are to state the area has not been flooded. That issue needs to be dealt with in relation to the local authorities and insurance companies. However, beyond that we need to see delivery of CFRAM. That part of Dundalk is seriously suffering from the fact it does not have the requisite wastewater infrastructure. When we see heavy rains in my estate, we are incredibly worried about what will happen.”
“I would like to think there will be some alternative means by which everything will be streamlined, the information deficit will be addressed and, beyond that, we will have a system that makes it as easy as possible for parents to make applications and then transition. If we allow a sufficient amount of time to deal with these problems, it would make things a hell of a lot more helpful. If it is not to be done through this legislation, it will have to be done by some other means. I would like to see movement on that.”
“It is not as if this is an idea thought up in my head; it comes from a point of view that educators know the issues that exist, everything from an administrative, building and supports point of view to the pressures schools and principals are under to the problems teachers and SNAs have. It is about ensuring we take away some of the pressure on parents and, in particular, on children. We have not fully had their backs. That needs to happen. I am going to leave it at that. I am deeply disappointed that this legislation is not proceeding. As I said, there were opportunities to change and refine it. It is a straightforward idea from the point of view of ensuring schools have enough time.”
“I hope, as I said, that the Minister of State will show movement, not only on school therapies and the common application system but also on delivering a system in which every child is provided with an appropriate place and some of the nightmares parents have to deal with are removed, and which ensures that everything is resourced. Communication is vital but it does not always happen. On a somewhat related issue, Bernard Gloster said the parents with the best view of the CDNTs are those who have a direct contact person, a person in play. The same circumstance applies here, so there should at least be communication, but that is not always the case. We are asking for the possibility of a greater run-in time, as proposed initially by the IPPN.”
“My proposed legislation is silent on the timeline for schools making a decision on admission because the policy objective is to provide, in legislation, for an appreciation that it can take time to facilitate special school places and to provide a longer timeframe within which schools can make this decision. When the information is available, it will result in additional questions that will need to be answered regarding what facilities and supports will be required. The Minister of State and I will not be in agreement on what is happening here. To use a term that is overused in this House, this is a missed opportunity. We could have refined the Bill on Committee and Report Stages. I would have had no issue with doing that.”
“That could take pressure off the whole children's disability network team, CDNT, system. We could eventually get to a situation where they could concentrate more on those bespoke requirements for those with more challenging needs. That is for a different day. I will not repeat what I have said before. This is usually the point at which I repeat everything that I have said before, but I will not. One of the issues the Minister of State brought up is that the proposed legislation allows for children and young people with special educational needs to apply for admission up to two years in advance. It is silent on the timelines for schools making decisions on admissions. It is not clear, therefore, that the legislation will achieve its aim of providing clarity for parents earlier.”
“Not only should we provide those sorts of supports and ensure that we are involving not only SNAs, teachers and principals, but we should also be engaging with the family. The Minister of State and I have spoken many times before about making sure that we have the technological back-up, through assistive technology, that can facilitate everyone from the child to the parent, the teachers and the SNAs. That is absolutely vital. The problem is that we are starting on the journey far too late and probably in the wrong place. I welcome in-school therapies and the common application system but I need to see them in operation fully and properly. I foresee an issue with the 45 special schools. I imagine they will be absolutely inundated wih applications. It needs to be spread out and ramped up, and much needs to happen.”
“We need to make sure that sufficient time is provided to schools and the NCSE, but also that we take away some of the hassle and heartache from parents and children. We all know we could talk about the other issues that exist with assessments and that is long before we talk about the necessary supports and therapies. That is another thing that I have supported, in the sense of moving in the direction of having therapies in school. I think I have said it many times before. The logic is that you put the therapies and supports where the need is, which is in the school, which is in some cases the easiest place to deliver. It has also been said that this should probably happen at an earlier stage, in early learning centres.”
“I do not think anyone is going to complain once we see a common application system and once it is simple for parents to use. I think we welcome, while accepting all the issues that we will all have relating to communication, the 1 October deadline for parents notifying the NCSE. Again, we need to make our information systems a hell of a lot better because most of this information should already be known without any parent having to make contact, particularly when we are talking about children who are in the system. More work needs to be done for those who are in the early learning system to ensure that every part of the system communicates, particularly to ensure transitions. The fact is that there are still children who do not have appropriate places. Buildings have not been delivered. Issues exist with school transport.”
“I do not doubt the Minister of State's sincerity. We have dealt with many issues many times and, in fairness, he has always made his best attempt to deal with those issues. On some level, we are dealing with a system that is far from perfect at this point. I will make a defence of this legislation. I thank Deputy Cummins for speaking on it and I reiterate what she said. A two-year run-in is just a sensible idea, which is why the Irish Primary Principals' Network proposed it. As I said before, I am not utterly wedded to this legislation. I would be only delighted to have a conversation afterwards and to hear then or in the near future that the Minister of State is moving in the direction of increasing the run-in time.”
“The proposed legislation lacks a definition of special educational needs as it followed the drafting style adopted in the regulations, which were drafted by the Office of the Attorney General of neglecting to define terms already defined in the parent Act, namely, the Education Act 1998. Other terms such as "admissions policy" and "patron" are also not defined in the regulations but are defined in section 2 of the Education Act 1998. There is more, but I await the Minister of State's answer.”
“I, more than anyone, have spoken about the need for flexibility in all systems, but the majority of parents and children know the schools they are going to apply to so it makes absolute sense that the school would know that they are looking to go there. We are talking about kids with special educational needs. We know there is a hell of a lot of work to do from an administrative point of view and beyond that to make sure that the supports are in place and all the ducks are in a row. I am very interested in what the Minister of State has to say. The amendment states that the lack of a definition of "special educational needs" in the proposed legislation and the uncertainty of the legislation applies to all estimated 25% of students with special educational needs who may seek a mainstream special class or special school.”
“As I said, I did not do this on my own. It was not my idea. The IPPN saw the absolute necessity for the Bill. Beyond that, I went to the OPLA. We are always told to go to it and not draft legislation on our own. As I said, on that basis I am doubly surprised that we are having this type of interaction. It is an example of inequality to guarantee in equal measure all things to all people. Legislation may treat groups of people differently if the Oireachtas believes that the group justifiably and rationally needs to be treated differently. I accept there will always be people who move into an area at the last minute and we will have to have a facility to deal with that. I do not see the Bill as disrespecting that. Those circumstances arise and we have always needed to address that.”
“I would like to think we can get to a place where all this would happen in a far more seamless way, but we are far from there at the minute. The amendment further notes that the legislation could have significant and negative impacts on a number of groups that have not been properly considered. It goes on to state that the proposed legislation may have an impact on the families of children and young people with special educational needs moving into an area within two years of seeking a school place, in particular families that are renting. It also refers to impact the proposed legislation may have on families, children and young people with special educational needs who receive a diagnosis and professional recommendation within two years of seeking a school place, in particular young children entering primary school.”
“The amendment further states "that this proposed legislation dates from 2024 and does not have regard to the progress being made by the Department of Education and Youth and the NCSE in introducing new measures to support forward planning for the 2026/27 school year". We have already discussed what that entails. The Bill was initiated on 10 July 2024. I have engaged with the Minister of State on the Department's plans and have no issue with them. I want further forward planning. I want a longer running time. We have to streamline the system. This allows for parents to be in place, for schools to be partners and for the NCSE and SENOs to have a greater level of time to collate the necessary documentation.”
“The amendment notes the Government will improve communication and outreach to parents, streamline the process by which parents apply for specialist school places, reducing the burden on them and improving the timelines and ensure that available capacity across schools is maximised. That is exactly what I am attempting to do. The parents of students with disabilities should be seen as partners in inclusive education provision that accords with the UN recommendations in respect of Article 24 of the UNCRPD and families should be consulted with and involved at every stage. Parents are going to give out about the lack of communication and about how, at times, they do not have a point person to talk to. We could all improve the circumstances by allowing a longer lead-in.”
“I assume the Minister of State is going to speak about how he is going to attempt to facilitate the NCSE process or any other processes. We may be talking about transition from early learning centres into primary school, where we have children who have been assessed and require access to the access and inclusion model, AIM. They then have to start a rigamarole again. We need to have a better system. As opposed to parents needing to make applications to the NCSE, if the system worked correctly, we would already have all that information. It is not like the children are arriving from Mars, particularly with regard to secondary school. They are in the system, yet the system has to be told about them again. We really need to get our act together on that. It does not make any sense whatsoever.”
“As much as I am disappointed and annoyed by this legislation, I am not wedded to this it or any other Bill. If I see a layout and that we are moving in the correct direction and trajectory, I will be only too delighted to support that. Even as a constituency TD and as a father of a child with needs, I want people to be facilitated. I do not want people coming into me on the basis they cannot get the rights for their children. That is not anything I want. The Bill increases the application timeframe for admission to special school places to two years, with the objective that this will provide parents with sufficient time to collate any documentation that a school may request as part of its application process, in particular any assessments in relation to the applicant student with special educational needs. I could go on.”
“Furthermore, we are now talking about in-school therapies and ensuring we have those supports where the need is, which is where the children are. We heard at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters recently where, in fairness, there was a lot of discussion on best practice in the likes of Portugal and Finland and the idea of facilitating the children who can be in mainstream education with all those supports. As much as I support the idea of in-school therapies in the 45 special schools as a starting point, which needs to be ramped up, there will be a short-term issue. That will be on the basis that parents who cannot get therapies and who live in the vicinity of these special schools are under severe pressure will all apply for that. We will need a ramping-up job done.”
“The Minister of State and others have to accept that I did not set out to undermine anybody's rights. We also have to accept the reality that it is about facilitating the families of those with disabilities and facilitating those children with disabilities who are being impacted at this point in time. The fact is we need to level the playing field. I do not see anything wrong in this. I initiated this because I believe it helps create a society based on tolerance, inclusion and social justice. It prevents children with disabilities from being isolated and excluded and enables them to participate in community life alongside everyone else. Through learning and playing together, children with and without disabilities and their teachers and parents can more easily understand and accept each other.”
“I will be very interested in the Minister of State's reason for the Government being utterly opposed to this. We will then be able to have an interaction afterwards on it. The Government's amendment states: "a child's right to education is enshrined in the Constitution and, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live" so that education "must be accessible on an equal basis with others in the community in which they live". However, the exact wording from the convention is: "on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live". The objective of this Bill is to promote equal inclusive education in accordance with the State's Constitution and the UNCRPD.”
“In a new departure for the 2026-27 academic year, parents must first complete the online form before the 1 October deadline to receive an eligibility letter to apply for NCSE school admissions for special classes or special school. The letter is then used to apply for a place in a specific school. If the child already has an eligibility letter not dated, one can be obtained from a local SENO. Schools have specific admission policies with eligibility and selection criteria based on NCSE guidance. All this would need to happen beforehand. I do not see any difficulty for parents being able to make this application process, particularly with the school, at an earlier stage. That allows for an awful lot of the preparatory work to be done, including even some of this . It makes complete sense.”
“Anything regarding issues that there may have been with the Act could have very easily been dealt with on Committee and Report Stages. I am disappointed this is the case. I thank the Minister of State for being here so we can at least debate this set of circumstances. This has come from educators. This is not a notion I thought up on my own. It makes complete sense. I asked a number of educationalists and stakeholders who were before the committee what the one thing is that would make a difference. They said a two-year lead-in. That is what we are talking about. I get the Minister of State is in a roundabout way trying to deal with that. I said to him previously that the NCSE needed to look at the cases it can look at earlier than a year beforehand. I am really disappointed where this is going. We get it.”
“The way the system is set up, schools never know how many children with special educational needs are going to apply and they regularly struggle to meet the demand for places because they have less than one year to prepare for those coming in. We know the issues that exist around the interaction with the NCSE. Some work has been done in relation to SENOs. However, we also know that where children do not have an assessment of need, the school cannot necessarily determine whether the child is to go into a special class or into mainstream education or what the circumstances and situations are for special schools. The idea of this, no more than what the Minister of State is doing having families contact the NCSE directly, is to just have a longer run-in. That is all we are looking for.”
“That is it in a very straightforward sense. When I first heard this idea, it made absolute sense. The parents of sixth class students with special educational needs will generally apply to secondary schools. They do that around October or November of the year before their child is due to start secondary school. A number of Deputies have had phone calls around these sorts of issues again this year, like every other year. In addition, children who have special educational needs heading into primary schools from créche or home face the same need to apply in the October or November of the year before they start school.”
“I was dealing with a number of stakeholders, including the IPPN. In fairness, the IPPN - I think it was Mr. Páiric Clerkin - was back in front of the Oireachtas committee on education in July of this year. I will read a bit of the IPPN's opening statement. The current limitation whereby schools only have one year lead-in time to manage admissions is very problematic in terms of forward planning. Call to action: IPPN has called for a two-year lead-in, which would give NCSE, school boards, parents and staff sufficient time to make provision for children with SEN. The Admissions Act needs to be amended to facilitate this. The new approach to approval by NCSE of entitlement to a place in a special class streamlines the process considerably. Once capacity is fully in place, this will be welcomed by schools and parents alike.”
“I could not say I was shocked but I was not particularly happy, obviously, when I saw the Government's response to this. This is not the first time the Minister of State and I have had a conversation, never mind the legislation, on the issues regarding those seeking places for their children, and the rights of those children, whether in primary or secondary school. I would state quite explicitly that we are very far from a solution. In fairness to me and to the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, which I would pay great tribute to and which brought all its wherewithal to bear, some of the questions that have been presented by the Government as an answer to this would have already been considered by us beforehand. Where the idea for this particular Bill came from was, I think, the education committee.”
“Having heard that the WSS is to increase by €1.20 per hour this year, but to then discover that our rate will only increase by 57 cent per hour while the minimum wage is going up by 65 cent, is dispiriting to everyone who is working so hard to maintain our jobs. They have requested any support that can be offered. I received the following correspondence from Mr. Price: For employers like us with 23 or more people with a disability on the pay roll, the rate paid increases from €9.45 to €10, an uplift of 55 cent. While this is welcome, it falls far short of offsetting the ongoing impact of successive wage increases. At the minute, it is not fit for purpose. It needs to be looked at. We need to look after those with disabilities and we are failing at the minute.”
“The wage subsidy scheme at the minute needs to be reviewed. I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Minister from the point of view that this needs to be looked at. I will pass on the correspondence from a number of organisations that are in difficulty. The following statement is from Reach Ability: We are a small social enterprise based in Wexford supporting and employing people with intellectual disabilities. We rely on the WSS to support a number of our employers and the widening gap over recent years between the WSS and the minimum wage has put us under increasing financial pressure.”
“That the programme for Government "commits to further review the minimum hours requirement under the wage subsidy scheme" is an absolute necessity. It goes without saying that we need "to examine an increase to the payment rate". One of the fears is with the three-year review mechanism. There will be other factors that will impact the costs faced by the Rehab Group and some of these other organisations, as well as on their ability to operate. We need to make sure there are not more employers who remove themselves from this scheme, which would mean there is less available employment for those with a disability. We are not in a good place in that regard. Beyond that, we need to streamline the entire system. The work and access programme, which allows for reasonable accommodation funding, is not fit for purpose.”
“By 2025, this was down to 46.6%. If we look at the number of employers, in 2019 there were 1,979 and but that had down to 1,504 by last year. The number of employees was 2,881 in 2019, and it is now 2,466. Those numbers are all going in the wrong direction.”
“As one of the larger employers of people with a disability, if we were awarded the full top-up rate of 50%, this would provide a rate of €1.80 per hour. However, that did not happen. I will go through a number of the points raised in the letter. If a company had three to six employees, whereas previously it would have been paid €6.93 - I am talking about fixed rates - that has gone to €7.50. However, it is not a €1.20 increase for them; it is a 57 cent increase. For those at the higher end, for example at 23% where they would previously have got a 50% wage subsidy, it only jumped from €9.45 to €10. It is an increase, but of just 55 cent. We all know the inflationary difficulties that exist at the minute. I will go through some of the figures from the last while. In 2022, the subsidy was €6.30, or 60% of the minimum wage.”
“There were complaints regarding strand 3 funding, which has remained static over 20 years despite an estimated inflation rate of over 50% in the intervening period. We can see how this would impact employers. I thank Rehab for its correspondence in this regard, which I will put on the record: We were somewhat encouraged with the announcement of an increase of €1.20, in the WSS base rate, although it was far short of what we had hoped, which was an increase of €3.40, to attempt to start to address ... [wage] increases [which, obviously, nobody is against but there is an impact in relation to these companies]. Strand Two of WSS, allowed for a top-up, depending on the number of disabled people employed from 10% to 50%.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being present to deal with this matter. I spoke earlier with Deputy Dara Calleary, who is the Minister responsible for the scheme. It is fair to say that the wage subsidy scheme is not fit for purpose. The scheme is the means by which companies get a certain payment for employing those with disabilities. They would get an increased payment for employing a number of people due to added costs of, for example, administration and so on. The problem with this State is that we have a disability employment rate of approximately 32.6%, which is almost 20% below the EU average of 51.3%. Moreover, the disability employment gap is 38.6%, which is higher than the EU average of 24.4%. This problem has to be addressed.”
“Sinn Féin introduced Private Members’ business this week in relation to the lack of a cost-of-disability payment. There were many organisations in Leinster House on the day, including Rehab, the Irish Wheelchair Association and the Disability Federation of Ireland and a number of its constituent organisations. There is a point that needs to be repeated. Everyone accepts what was in the Indecon report commissioned by the Government back in 2021. It found that the cost of disability is, on average, between €9,482 and €11,734 per annum. Given the removal of the one-off payments that were included last year, there has been a huge cut of anywhere between €1,200 and €1,600 for those with a disability. Another issue that was brought up, particularly by Rehab on the day and by others since, is the wage subsidy scheme.”
“I thank everyone for their flexibility. I ask the Minister to come back with the answers to those issues and I ask that we would get the answers in relation to the National Training Fund so we could make a determination. We all want to support, work and deliver.”
“That is it, and I would like to see the Minister have conversations with those within his party and his Government from a point of view of making sure those necessary pieces of work are done to make things better now and to prepare for that because there has been a lack of work done there.”