Disabled workers in a shop in the Oireachtas are among hundreds of people with disabilities who are being paid below the minimum wage, it has emerged.
The workers are considered to be in "work preparation" and are exempt from minimum wage requirements, although they can hold on to welfare benefits such as the Disability Allowance.
Frank Flannery of Rehab, a division of which is responsible for arranging work for disabled people in the Oireachtas, said the organisation wanted to provide full-time employment on full wages for disabled people in such settings, but was waiting for Government funding to do so.
Gandon Enterprises, a division of Rehab, employs about 200 people on a full-time basis who are paid above the minimum wage and are members of Siptu.
However, more than 30 are in "work preparation" and receive a work allowance which is below the minimum wage.
They may still receive their disability allowance, which brings them above the minimum wage.
A similar situation prevails State-wide, with about 7,000 disabled people in various categories of supported or sheltered employment. Around 3,000 of these people are believed to be on a trainee basis and are receiving less than the minimum wage, which stands at €7.65 an hour.
Mr Flannery said Rehab wanted more disabled people to be engaged in full-time employment on full wages.
But it was prevented from doing so because of Government delays in funding a €5 million supported-employment initiative.
"Absolutely nothing has been done about it," Mr Flannery told The Irish Times. He said Rehab and other groups could not afford to employ more disabled people full-time without further State support.
He said the Oireachtas shop, for example, was losing money.
"That shop is a loss-maker for us, it's not an economic entity. We were asked to take it on by a committee in the Oireachtas, but it's being poorly supported," Mr Flannery said.
A spokesman for Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin was unavailable for comment last night.
