National Disability Inclusion Strategy

Published February 2024

ODI’s contribution to public consultation on the National Disability Strategy by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

The Open Doors Initiative (ODI) welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the public consultation on Ireland’s National Disability Strategy. Our submission calls for practical reforms to ensure people with disabilities have fair and meaningful access to employment, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Despite Ireland’s current “full employment” context, disabled people continue to face systemic barriers

• Ireland is ranked the worst country in Europe for employing people with disabilities.
• The cost of living with a disability is €10,000–€12,000 extra per year.
• Current welfare supports risk penalising those who take up work, creating a major welfare trap.

Key Recommendations in Our Submission

• Streamline and simplify disability supports into one accessible online system.
• Remove outdated work thresholds (e.g., 15-hour requirement) to enable more part-time employment.
• Reform the Wage Subsidy Scheme, moving away from the medical model of disability.
• Extend grants and supports to self-employed disabled people and nurture entrepreneurship.
• Raise employer awareness through a public campaign on grants and reasonable accommodations.
• Ring-fence funding for reasonable accommodations in government-funded projects.
• Provide guidelines and grants to make employer websites fully accessible (WCAG 2.1 AA compliant).