ICTU Joint Disability Committee Seminar - Dublin

Day 1 was chaired by Deirdre O’Connor, Chair of the Republic of Ireland Disability Committee. The first speaker was ICTU General Secretary David Begg. David welcomed delegates and commended the work of all involved with ICTU and NIC-ICTU regarding disability issues, particularly the Workway and Disability Champions projects. He talked about a number of ongoing campaigns including that for a €40 per week ‘cost of disability’ payment for disabled workers and a payment equal to 100% of average industrial earnings for those disabled people for whom work is not possible. (by the way, I’m writing this report using the GB language “disabled people”, the term “people with disabilities” is the accepted trade union language in Ireland).

Next came Angela Kerins, the Chair of the National Disability Authority since it was established. She talked about barriers faced by disabled people getting into employment. She placed a lot of focus on the benefit trap and the fact that people lose benefits and more importantly their medical cards if they earn more than €120; this can be difficult to get back and presents a risk that many are not prepared to take.

Angela was followed by keynote speaker Gerard Quinn of the Irish Human Rights Commission talking about the UN Convention on the rights of disabled people. Gerard’s globe trotting speech made my schedule in 2006 look like a camping trip to Cornwall; it was interesting to hear a view from the inside regarding the attitude to disabled people’s rights from countries around the world tainted with a hint of some of the possible motives behind this. Questioned about which country he felt was most committed to change and reform his answer was quite clear; China, not the country that would have sprung into most people’s minds.

The day’s first politician was Gerry Mulligan who heads up disability issues in the Office of the First Minister. He reminded delegates of Ireland’s commitment to a measurable improvement of the lives of disabled people by 2012. He talked about the 2005 Disability Discrimination Order, which is very similar in scope to the UK Disability Equality Duty requiring public sector organisations to positively promote employment of disabled people. In the Republic this has involved the introduction of a 3% quota system. For further information on the content of Gerry’s input see www.equalityni.org and www.nisra.gov.uk

After lunch I gave a presentation about the Disability Champions project in particular the history of it and the progress to date. Jane Clare was to present the detail of the role and the available training the following morning. The concept was well received and there were a number of questions before we began some workshop activities to get the views of delegates.

in the final session of the day Ann McKernon of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland talked about a number of cases that they had taken reporting both in and out of court settlements which bore little resemblance to what delegates felt would be reasonable compensation especially for the loss of a job. The final speaker was Minister Jimmy Devins, T.D. Mental health & disabilities. His speech commended the work of the trade unions and praised the ICTU for Workway and Disability Champions@Work.

Day 2 was opened by Irelands Disability Champions@Work project worker Jane Clare. Jane explained the project and role from an Irish perspective. She has done a great job adapting the training course to suit the legal and support system for disability and disabled people in the Republic and will do a similar task for the North. Her presentation led into some quality time for discussion and debate with delegates and speakers alike. This was an excellent second day following quite an intense day one which had lots of information for people to take in and not much time for discussion. In the middle of the session Pauline Ryder gave a presentation about the AHEAD project getting disabled people into supported employment. She touched on a number of issues that linked very closely to Disability Champions such as having a workplace advocate, understanding the social model etc. She was a very good asset to the debate.

So, the seminar came to an end and we all headed for home after a very positive conference with the role of Disability Champion firmly established throughout the island of Ireland. The only sad tinge to the event was that this was Max O’Brian’s final event as Chair of the NIC-ICTU disability committee. I first met Max in Belfast in April 2003 and found him inspirational, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish him all the very best for the future.

Dave Parr