Closing address by Minister Ahern at the “Tapping into talent – sharing the WAM experience” Conference

Tuesday 13th November 2007, Dublin Castle

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to be here this afternoon to close what has been a most successful and informative conference.

The Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) Project is one of 43 development partnerships funded under the EQUAL Community Initiative Programme through one of my Departments, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The experimental approach of EQUAL provides the opportunity to test new ways of integrating marginalised groups into the workforce, of preparing them for the world of work, and of upskilling those already in employment. The programme has been concerned with finding innovative solutions to labour market problems, and looks, not necessarily at ‘what’ is being done, but also ‘how’ things are done. It is within this context that the WAM Project has endeavoured to foster attitudinal change among employers and provide graduates with disabilities with that all-important first step onto the career ladder.

I see that WAM had at its helm a Development Partnership made up of twelve organisations; which includes employers as well as advocates in the disability sector. I understand that it was administered by the lead partner, AHEAD – the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability.

However, you cannot introduce solutions to problems that you do not understand. With this in mind the Project sought to identify and challenge the barriers facing graduates with disabilities entering employment. WAM was, in essence, a pilot project which used the mechanism of a structured mentored work placement to find out what are the existing barriers, either real or perceived, to the inclusion of people with disabilities in the workforce. The strength of the project is that it has beneficial effects on both groups, participating employers as well as participating graduates.

Graduates with disabilities gained valuable mainstream employment experience, which will hopefully benefit their future careers while employers got the opportunity to assess their own internal recruitment and selection procedures, regarding the employment of people with disabilities.

This approach afforded the project the opportunity to walk the line with HR personnel, managers and mentors as together they explored creative solutions to potential barriers in the recruitment process, and to on-the-job issues as they arose. Staff of the employer organisations, who volunteered as mentors, received mentoring induction and disability equality training, which enhanced the dissemination of the learning from the project to a broad number of personnel. This is very significant because, as one Development Partner put it “Today’s mentor could be tomorrow’s manager”.

I am very pleased to say that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has participated in the pilot project and has provided work placements for two graduates.

Indeed, in a recent edition of the Department’s internal magazine “Enterprising Times”, Richard Lawlor, a WAM Mentee, and honours graduate from Dundalk Institute of Technology, reported on his experiences while on work placement in the Department. I am delighted that Richard found his experience to be a very positive one, which has given him and I quote “The confidence and experience to enter the labour market and seek a job tailored to my educational qualifications”. I would like to take this opportunity to wish Richard, and all his fellow participants in the project, every success, not just in gaining employment but employment deserving of their undoubted talents.

It is within this context that I note research by AHEAD which shows that in 2005 there was a significant rise in the numbers of students with disabilities in third level education, up from 461 in 1994 to 2,760 in 2005 – which represents an impressive six-fold increase.

This is testament to the considerable impact made by support services at second and third level. Yet, how then, can it be explained that graduates with disabilities holding relevant qualifications and skills during our unprecedented Celtic Tiger period can find it extremely difficult to acquire work?

This question was the inspiration for the WAM Project. We can neither as an economy, nor as a society, afford to ignore such a significant and relatively untapped pool of talent. To develop our knowledge economy to its fullest potential, we must strive to facilitate the introduction of students/graduates with disabilities into the labour market at an appropriate level to their educational qualifications. This can be achieved through the development of innovative workplace solutions, such as the structured mentoring supports of the WAM Project.

That first step is often the most important - judging by the positive findings of the Project where 90% of managers stated that they would definitely employ a graduate with a disability again following their experience of WAM. This clearly demonstrates why employers must begin to look past the barriers and perceived insurmountable issues so that they can begin to see this qualified, skilled and willing resource that is graduates with disabilities.

Towards 2016 sets out Partnership’s Vision of an Ireland where people with disabilities have, to the greatest extent possible, the opportunity to live a full life, free from discrimination. Here, again I must mention the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Currently the Department is developing a comprehensive employment strategy under the Sectoral Plan for people with disabilities over the period to 2010, the aim of which is to address the diversity of circumstances, needs and abilities of people with disabilities, and to work towards the highest possible levels of employment for them.

In doing so my colleague Minister Martin has established a Consultative Forum on the Employment Strategy, which includes representatives from relevant Government Departments, the social partners, and other interests. The Forum provides a channel for members to discuss and to present their views on strategic issues within the overall remit of the Department, in conjunction with its agencies and other Government Departments. These relate to issues that directly, or indirectly, impact on the lives of people with disabilities, and those relating to the delivery of vocational training and employment services.

The Consultative Forum’s agenda for the immediate future focuses on job retention, job supports and job preparation for those with disabilities. The Forum has commissioned new research on how best to accommodate the needs of workers that acquire disabilities in the course of their working lives.

That will be informed by work already done in this area at both national and international levels, of which the findings from the WAM Project will prove insightful.

Of course the EQUAL Programme is now drawing to a close and the challenge for those involved in taking things forward is to build on the lessons learnt and to mainstream the best practices developed by EQUAL Projects.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the development of the WAM Toolkit for employers aimed at assisting them with resolving issues identified during the lifetime of the Project, which I am certain, will prove a truly valuable resource.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for giving me the opportunity here today to contribute in some small way by highlighting the excellent work of the Project and its partners in such an important area, and to wish you well in your future endeavours.

Thank you.

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