John McGuinness: Urges Greater Uptake of Wage Subsidy Scheme

I will ask the Minister to give us an update on the workings of the wage subsidy scheme and the other initiatives that are available to employers and those in need of employment in terms of intellectual disabilities. I believe that there is scope within what you are doing with this wage subsidy scheme to improve it, to include others and to encourage employers to participate more fully. Thank you Deputy McGuinness for raising this. Supporting disabled people and reducing the disability employment gap are key priorities for me. The wage subsidy scheme is the key disability employment support provided by my department. It aims to encourage employers to offer substantial and sustainable employment to disabled people through a subsidy. The department published a review in 2024 of the wage subsidy scheme. Following a public consultation we aimed to make the scheme more accessible and more flexible. As a result the minimum hours were reduced from 21 to 15 hours per week. The scheme was expanded to the community and voluntary sector and the non-commercial semi-state sector. In addition we have changed the language of the scheme to align with the social model of disability. One of the recommendations made was to regularly review the subsidy rate. The National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People also includes a commitment to examine an increase on the subsidy rate. The rate was reviewed in the context of Budget 2026. As a result the number of bands was reduced and the subsidy rates were increased. The base wage subsidy paid to employers who employ disabled people is now €7.50 per hour, increased from €6.30. Employers who employ 25 or more employees on the wage subsidy scheme can still avail of a grant of €30,000 towards the costs of an Employment Assistance Officer. Budget 2026 also provided for the expansion of the scheme to those who acquire a disability while in employment, those with a progressive or degenerative condition that worsens and those who transfer from invalidity pension to partial capacity benefit. We hope these changes encourage more employers to hire more disabled people to increase uptake on the scheme and I'm involved in engaging employer organisations to do this. Later this morning I will attend the Like the Way event which is hosted by Mr Price who are one of our leading providers of employment for disabled people who work with the wage subsidy scheme. I've also made it Minister of Change and Deputy to the wage subsidy scheme to centralise the processing to ensure more consistent and more quicker service to those employers who are in receipt of subsidy under the scheme. Thank you. Deputy? I just wonder do you think Minister that enough is being done to inform employers of the scheme and of the, I suppose the benefits of the scheme and how it assists both employers and those that might have an intellectual disability, does more need to be done in terms of the promotion of the scheme? Because I come across a lot of people with a disability, with an intellectual disability and an acquired disability who would like to do some work, who would like to return to the workforce and who would benefit health wise from being involved again in the workforce and having a meaningful number of hours per week to work. And I feel that if more was done in the promotion of that scheme and indeed in expanding it and working with maybe family resource centres, organisations like Talking Heads in Carlow, that you get more employers to pick up on the scheme and you would have plenty of those willing to engage from the disability sector. Minister? I actually completely agree with you Deputy on that one. We did last year run an overall information campaign about the wage subsidy scheme with the normal advertising. There was a very small increase in it. We actually met on this this week. I intend to target Chambers of Commerce in particular who have a very direct connection to businesses and to local businesses. We have a lot of national businesses supporting the programme, using the programme. I want to see more local businesses, local visibility is important. But certainly I'd expand that outreach to include the family resource centres. Any organisation or any deputy that has suggestions of organisations that have a local reach and that can get us into local businesses to do this, I'm more than happy to work with that. But we will be engaging and we'll be setting up meetings, as I said, with local business organisations. We deal with the employer organisations in relation to this. I want organisations that have a much more local connection to employers and can engage with employers. But I do want to acknowledge there are many local employers who do excellent work on this. We work, we as a department will be running a teamed week in October on Work and Skills Week, looking at the vacancies that are available in employment to match those with disabilities to those vacancies. And I'd say to any employer, you're missing out on a really, really talented bunch of people by not engaging with the wage subsidy scheme. Thank you Minister. Deputy? Well could I encourage the department perhaps to have what you might term an open day, where employers can come and meet those that are suffering from, or have a disability, or those with an acquired disability, to see how they can match those that want work with their employees. There are many organisations that are now funded to prepare young people in particular, but anyone that's disabled and intellectually disabled, to encourage them back into the workforce and to give them the tools necessary to contribute to that work. And I think the employers don't see enough of that interaction and enough of what's available to them from this whole disability sector. And I want to refer again to the Talking Heads organisation in Carlo and Kilkenny, and to those with acquired brain injuries and disabilities. And I think that much more needs to be done to give them the opportunity to come back into the workforce, and they have something to contribute. Minister? Again, Deputy, I don't disagree, but I'd also point out that we have a designated employment personal advisor in the 62 intro offices nationwide for disabled people to meet and discuss employment options. I've changed the work and access scheme, so work and access is a scheme that offers seven different supports to facilitate those with disabilities in the workforce. I changed it to include assistive technology, which is a new thing. In 2026 there's 1,568 employers, just last May, supporting 2,621 employees through the wage subsidy scheme. That's not enough. We have the worst disability employment gap in Europe, and I'm determined to address it, I'm determined to make changes to address it, and it will be also a key part of my priorities during the European Presidency as to how we can learn from Europe and maybe there are areas that Europe can learn from us in the context of reducing this gap.