The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) plans to continue facilitating placements for graduates with disabilities this year under the Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) programme.

WAM is a work placement programme for graduates with disabilities, which was set up by the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD).

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue recently outlined a number of steps the DAFM has taken to engage and work with people with disabilities.

In 2021, he said the DAFM facilitated four paid and mentored placements under the WAM programme and he added that many former WAM participants had gone on to secure permanent employment.

“It is planned to facilitate further placements on this programme during 2022,” he said.

In addition, the DAFM collaborated with the houses of the Oireachtas in facilitating three trainee placements on the 2019/2020 Oireachtas Work Learning (OWL) Programme.

Launched by the Ceann Comhairle in September 2018, this is an unpaid applied learning, development and socialisation programme for young adults with an intellectual disability.

Minister McConalogue said many graduates of this programme have now gone on to secure permanent employment in the public sector.

“One of the graduates recently joined my department in a permanent post,” he said.

DAFM implementation

In a recent parliamentary question put to him by deputy Holly Cairns, she asked the minister the way that his department and public bodies and agencies under his remit are implementing one of the actions contained in the National Disability and Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021.

The minister said the DAFM aims to ensure that the needs of all its customers, including people with disabilities are met, and that the rights of equal treatment are upheld in the delivery of services.

He said two access officers are appointed who are responsible for providing or arranging for, assistance and guidance to persons with disabilities accessing services provided by the department, when requested, and generally to act as a point of contact for people wishing to access such services.

An accessibility officer is available to facilitate contact with the department and take suitable measures as necessary, he said.

He explained that the DAFM also commissioned a digital recording of all its schemes and services to assist customers with reading difficulties; supplied documents in Braille to assist visually impaired customers; and provided Irish Sign Language interpretation services for onsite meetings with customers when requested.

The DAFM also has a disability liaison officer who “fosters awareness of equality and disability issues among staff and provides support, advice and guidance to both staff and managers around reasonable accommodation requests to ensure employees with a disability have equal opportunities throughout their career in the DAFM.

“We frequently engage with the National Disability Authority regarding policies relevant to persons with disabilities,” the minister said.

“My department is represented on a range on interdepartmental committees of relevance to the representation of people with disabilities.”

These include:

  • Working Group on the development of a Well-being Framework for Ireland;
  • Oireachtas Disability Group;
  • Interdepartmental Committee on Human Rights;
  • Interdepartmental Committee on access to services by ‘off-line’ citizens.