Employers slow to employ disabled workers despite grants

MILLIONS of euro worth of grants and supports available for employers who hire people with a disability are not being accessed because of a reluctance to take on workers from this sector, a spokesman for a disability lobby group has warned.

Employers prepared to take on someone with a disability can avail of a range of different supports, from grants of up to €10,000 to resources such as job coaches and sign interpreters and physical supports like ramps, seating, lifts and hoists.

However, according to Dermot Hayes, network support officer for the Munster branch of the lobby group People with Disabilities in Ireland, many of these incentives are not being taken up because of public uncertainty about the issue of taking on an employee with a disability.