Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. My Department provides a wide range of income and employment supports to assist jobseekers and employees with disabilities, as well as their employers. I am committed to improving targeted employment supports where disabled people are facing additional challenges accessing work.

The reasonable accommodation fund is one of these supports which aims to support the employment of disabled people by providing financial support to help make workplaces more accessible. Under the comprehensive employment strategy, my Department committed to undertake a review of the reasonable accommodation fund grants. My Department is also reviewing the disability awareness support scheme at the same time given that scheme's similar target audience. The reasonable accommodation fund grants and the disability awareness support scheme are both demand-led schemes that have shown consistently low take-up. The reasonable accommodation fund typically has expenditure of around €100,000 per annum, helping fewer than 100 claimants, while the disability awareness support scheme expenditure is only around €11,000 per annum.

It is important that we review these schemes as it clear that take-up of these grants is very low. I want to see them used more widely and more effectively. The aim of the review is to improve the effectiveness of the supports to employees and employers, identify gaps in provision and improve the application and payment processes. I expect to publish the review of both grants in the coming weeks. In budget 2023, I announced an additional €1 million for improvements to the reasonable accommodation fund scheme, which will be informed by the recommendations in the forthcoming review.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

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