Grants of up to €200,000 have been announced to support and improve employment opportunities for disabled people.
The WorkAbility: Inclusive Pathways to Employment Programme is a new employment focused programme which aims to support disabled people to enter education and employment.
A number of Donegal organisations have been selected to benefit, including national non-profits with branches in Donegal.
Among the successful organisations are Spraoi Agus Spórt Family Centre Company in Carndonagh, Down Syndrome Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association and Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
In the coming days Pobal, on behalf of the Department of Social Protection, will contact the 52 applicants who reached the qualifying threshold to confirm their successful funding.
The programme is co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) under Employment, Inclusion, Skills and Training Programme (EIST) 2021-2027 and the Department of Social Protection, and will be administered by Pobal.
The primary purpose of the funding is to provide disabled people with the opportunity to gain and sustain employment/self-employment or to access education and training to improve their employment prospects.
Fine Gael Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh welcomed the announcement from Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys TD and said: “This is a hugely important announcement from Minister Humphreys, providing sustainable employment for people with disabilities is a challenge we need to rise to as a community, it’s an area where there is room for improvement, and with more research we can match the skills of the disabled community to the needs of employers and at a time of full employment when employers have difficulty filling some posts, it is an ideal time to do this.
“”I welcome the funds for the selected projects today from Minister Humphries and I look forward to seeing more Donegal projects availing of this funding in future years.”
