Many firms are not aware of the grants available for employing people with disabilities, it was claimed today.
The Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) told an Oireachtas Health Committee today that FÁS financial supports worth over €1 million went unclaimed last year.
"Many employers also don't know about these financial supports that are available," IWA media director Olan McGowan said. "There was a significant underspend - up to €1 million - in FÁS workplace adaptation grants last year."
The IWA said it was in favour of a 3 per cent employment quota for people with disabilities as an interim measure. But Mr McGowan added: "I would like the idea that Irish society moves to a stage where we don't need that quota."
He also told the committee that people with disabilities make the most dedicated employees.
But the IWA also stressed that people with disabilities often can't access employment because of no personal assistance support, inadequate housing or inadequate transport. He also praised the recent O2 Ability Awards for rewarding employers with a good record of employing people with disabilities.
Most employers were unaware of the abilities of people with disabilities, he noted.
Committee member Dr Jerry Cowley TD praised the role of FÁS Community Employment (CE) schemes in the lives of people with disabilities, but the initiative was recently downgraded.
"The CE schemes have allowed disabled people to have a lifeline to the world that they wouldn't normally have. It gives them a reason to get up in the world. . . . It is totally and utterly unjust and scandalous that these places be withdrawn."
He called for assurances that people with disabilities would have ongoing access to CE places.
On the subject of access, Mr McGowan, who is a wheelchair user, said there were only about four pubs or restaurants in Dublin's Grafton Street area with accessible downstairs toilets.
Mr McGowan also expressed concerns about the provisions for accessibility of public buildings in the new Disability Bill (2005), which he said were inferior to provisions in the Equal Status Act 2000.