Primary legislative and policy context for persons with disabilities and employment in Ireland

Introduction

The following chapter proposes to analyse certain key aspects of Ireland’s national legislative and policy frameworks supporting persons with disabilities within the realm of employment. This is supplemented by a comparative analysis of the legal models of the united kingdom and Australia.

I. Primary legislative and policy context for persons with disabilities and employment in Ireland

This section will seek to give an insight on the legal framework that supports people with disabilities in employment contexts. It will additionally outline the primary policy initiatives which compliment this framework.

In terms of the legislative context, the primary components are as follows;

Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004

These Acts outlawed discrimination in the areas of recruitment, employment, promotion, and training, and define what constitutes discrimination. In terms of obligations, employers are required to take reasonable steps to accommodate employees and prospective employees with disabilities. In Part 2 (s.16(3(a))) , the Act provides that a person with a disability should be regarded as fully competent to undertake any duties with the aid of special treatment or facilities. However, they are not obliged to recruit or retain someone who cannot undertake the duties of the job even with reasonable accommodation. “Accommodation” may take the form of modification to work tasks, working hours, physical changes to the workplace, or provision of assistive technology. “Reasonable” means the employer is not obliged to undertake a disproportionate burden to make these accommodations.

Disability Act 2005

This Act promotes the principle of mainstreaming which involves that “mainstream services across government departments, public services should involve people with disabilities in their design and delivery”. This Act supplemented the previous Acts by considering public sector work and applying the previous employer obligations in addition to setting a target percentage for staff with disabilities; this goal is currently 3%. It is important to note that this Act specifies