Rehabilitation costs falling - report

An independent report compiled for the rehabilitation company, Gandon Enterprises, estimates that the net operational cost to the State of each disabled person employed by Gandon last year was just £395.

Gandon provides integrated social employment in commercial companies for people with disabilities. The disabled workers comprise approximately half the workforce and work alongside able-bodied colleagues. All employees are paid the same wage. A Government subsidy compensates the company for the lower level of productivity of people with disabilities.

The chief executive of Gandon, Ms Gina Quin, has said that with adequate government backing the company could double its number of employees to 1,000 over the next three years, with half of the new employees being disabled people.

Ms Quin called on the Government to expand and make permanent the programme through which Gandon provides employment to people with disabilities. She said the cost involved was "negligible" given the improvement in quality of life this would mean for the disabled people who would benefit.

Gandon Enterprises comprises eight wholly-owned businesses and a 50 per cent stake in Connect Industries Ltd. The businesses include Galway Corrugated Cases, Hats of Ireland, Harrison's Food Company and Precision Workwear.

Unemployment remained "a particularly severe problem" among people with disabilities, according to the report on Gandon prepared by consultants Tansey Webster Stewart & Co Ltd.

"The current tightness of the labour market offers unprecedented potential opportunities to raise employment and to reduce unemployment amongst people with disabilities, since their recruitment would ease national labour scarcity," the report stated.

Gandon was established in 1994 in response to a government pilot programme for the employment of people with disabilities. After incurring sizeable financial losses in its early years, Gandon had become a significant success by 1999, according to the report. Sales at Gandon's eight wholly-owned businesses exceeded £10 million in 1999, when net overall profits reached £275,000.

According to the consultants, studies suggest that disabled employees within Gandon manage about 35 per cent of the productivity of able-bodied workers.

While the net operating cost of providing a job for a disabled person has averaged £1,550 since 1994, the 1999 net cost was only £395. The net cost includes savings to the Exchequer on disability payments, plus the revenue garnered from taxes and PRSI. "The income taxes paid by Gandon's employees with disabilities are taken into account - an average of £1,163 per disabled employee in 1999. The net cost of continuing to finance integrated social employment at Gandon is shown to be lower than any of the feasible alternatives, excepting open employment," the report stated.

The consultants concluded: "The pilot programme has generated social benefits in excess of its net operational financial costs in the first five years of its life."