THE Government must provide 200 more jobs if it is to meet the 1999 EU target for sheltered and supported work for people with disability, according to the chairman of the National Rehabilitation Board (NRB), Mr Colm O'Doherty.
Speaking at the launch of the NRB's annual report, he said the target for people with disabilities in open employment was 25 per, cent by 1999. We had already reached 20 per cent. However, we were still a long way off achieving the 40 per cent target for those who needed sheltered or supported employment.
"We are only half way to the sheltered employment target of 40 per cent and without additional places being made available the target is unattainable." He warned that if places were not found, money allocated by the EU to provide sheltered employment could be withdrawn.
The NRB's annual report for 1995 shows that 314 people were employed in full time jobs through the Employment Support Scheme, an increase of 25 per cent over 1994.
The report shows that 700 people completed their training and found employment, half in open employment and the other half in sheltered and supported work. A further 320 completed their training and progressed to higher level training or education.
A total of 420 people found employment directly through the NRB's job placement service and 550 people, registered with NRB, participated in Community Employment Schemes.
A further 760 people took part in Exchequer funded Training Opportunities Programmes, which provides basic skills training, while 3,300 people used NRB's occupational guidance service.
Meanwhile, the Disability Federation of Ireland has called on the Government to publish immediately the White Paper on the role of the voluntary sector, promised during Ireland's last presidency of the EU, in 1990.