WHat the Minister has not detailed is the following: How will any extra income from these initiatives affect recipients medical cards? Being sick, or disabled, normally implies you need additional medical support and medical cards, access to home help, mobility allowance, dietry supplement payment, etc all all means tested. The Minister needs to clarify these issues before people will even comtemplate such schemes.
The workplace adaptation grants have been in place for a number of years, and Im assuming the lack of “figures” are suggesting the grants may have been reduced?? The (WEAG – Work Equipment Adaption Grant) grant before todays announcement was €6,348.70 … it will be inetresting to see what it has been changed to, otherwise why bother recycling an announcement??
There was also the Disability Awareness Training Support Scheme which allowed a once off grant of €20,000 before todays announcement, Im wondering where that has gone now – changed, enhanced or cancelled??
The difficulty with disabled or ill returning to work is not that the structures have not been there – its quite often PRACTICAL help – such as transport, days off for appointment, ill days due to disability or condition PLUS also the medical card and associated services – phyio, OT, homehelp, etc which “catches” disabled people in a trap.

The government should divert ALL of the money it continues to pump into the discredited greyhound “industry” towards more deserving sectors…

Is Joan burton out of her mind, telling disabled people like a target to them that they can get employment, I know loads of people who suffer epilepsy and are really disabled and not one of them could get employment, especially a lot of the ones that suffer severe gran mal epilepsy, because the employers don’t want to take responsibility if the person who suffers gran mal epilepsy take a siezure on his premises and a plus that his insurance would shoot to the sky on higher rate insurance policy, and for people in wheel chairs or down syndrome suffered are been exploited by employers and used, they don’t put them behind a counter, they put them packing in the back of the stores so that they won’t be seen, and given a lower wage at €5.00 per hour, exploiting indeed, she knows this herself. So why should they be made fun of and discriminated , I know this from talking to a lot of these people individual and of their experience, would Joan burton leave the disable people alone, as they have been humiliated enough and been punished enough, get off disable people’s back and leave them alone Joan burton, and pick on the someone who can fight back against your vicious mouth with people who can work and are able to work with a start of the healthy young people who doss around and do nothing only cause trouble with their neighbours by hanging around flats or housing estate, doing absolutely nothing with their life’s, their the ones you should be targeting, not the sick and disable. Rita cahill

What about special needs assistants in the schools so that people can be helped from a younger age? It would be cheaper in the long run and give people better lives.

yes i agree joan burton should leave us alone and work more on the prospect of helping us with home helps!! rather than hindering us… i suffer from severe epilepsy!! and i lost my children because of this damn illness!!! so back of joan burton!!!!

If people take up this scheme how will the additional income affect their medical card entitlements and also how will it affect peoples entitlement to rent or mortgage interest supplement. Also remember that if you are on invalidity pension or Disability benefit and take up employment be assured that when your employment finishes you will most probably be told that you no longer qualify for Invalidity Pension or Disability Benefit on income grounds and therefore you will lose your entitlement to the fringe benefits of the Invalidity Pension Scheme e.g. Free Travel, Electricity Allowance etc etc. So once again Joan Burton announces a new scheme but does not announce the potential downside for people – its all spin until they get you into their web …….

What about Junkies receiving disability benefit just because they are junkies. Cut them off it’s their choice to be that way

Don’t you just love the arcane langauge? ‘Partial capacity’, ‘invalidity pension’. We’ve a long way to go…