Disability Issues
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Catherine Ardagh (FF), Dublin South-Central

What initiatives and plans are in place to support people with disabilities to access and sustain employment? I wish to highlight what works in practice and what is at risk if we do not protect those pathways. This is a social protection issue. In my constituency, Scoil Eoin, a school for children with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities, has a post-leaving certificate employment rate of 95%. This compares to the national average employment rate of young adults with intellectual disabilities of 30%. What is happening in Scoil Eoin works. Unfortunately, the school's designation is under threat. This means it will not be allowed to focus on children with mild to moderate learning disabilities. I am concerned this change in designation will impact the Department of Social Protection’s pipeline, the people attending its services, the future viability of employment services and the success of disability services.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15