People with disabilities working for €5 a week

THE Government was given a code of practice for people with disabilities working in sheltered workshops in 2002, but never implemented it, leaving it to “gather dust”.

Calls for that report to be finally implemented were made yesterday after it emerged workers in that category are earning as little as €5 a week. That has prompted the Health Service Executive (HSE) to begin a comprehensive review of current practices in adult funded day services.

The HSE and Equality Authority (EA) are carrying out separate investigations into allegations that those with intellectual disabilities were being paid far below the minimum wage for practices which were financially profitable, such as making cardboard boxes and putting inserts into mailshots.