Four Cork charities receive almost €3m in grants to help people with disabilities 

FOUR Cork charities, which have, between them, received grants totalling almost €3m from a new Government scheme, say the money will be used to help hundreds of people with disabilities over the coming five years.

The charities are the recipients of a focused employment programme for people with disabilities, which was launched by Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys last year. 

WorkAbility: Inclusive Pathways to Employment was announced last August by Ms Humphreys, and will run until 2028. The programme is aimed at supporting people with disabilities aged 16+ and helping them into the workforce, and has an overall budget of up to €36.29m.

The Cork charities which received grants are the Cope Foundation, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, and IRD Duhallow, which is partnered with Ballyhoura Development.

Funding for Cope Foundation

The Cope Foundation will receive €990,415 over the five years. It said the allocation will fund its Ability@Work programme, benefitting 250 more people.

Cope Foundation acting communications manager Elaine Murphy said the funding would allow the Ability@Work initiative to provide a supported employment service to an additional 250 people with intellectual disabilities and or autism who want to work.

Ability@Work will develop a signposting service for 130 employers and will actively engage with community and businesses to create opportunities to ensure more people are included in the workplace.

Guide Dogs to receive €993,084

Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, which has its headquarters in Carrigrohane, will receive €993,084 in the next five years, allowing it to employ four part-time staff, benefiting 100 people who are blind and vision-impaired.

Mary Cawley, who manages Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind’s VisionAbility project, said the project’s aims were to ensure that people who are blind and vision-impaired are fully supported to find and maintain employment, and to assist organisations that employ programme participants.

Funding for IRD Duhallow and Ballyhoura Development

A third allocation was made to a partnership of two well-established local development companies, IRD Duhallow and Ballyhoura Development, which was granted two cent shy of €1m, over the next five years. The charities said this would allow them to help “between 500 and 1,000 people”.

IRD Duhallow CEO Maura Walsh said the funds would allow the groups to help individuals who are marginalised, socially excluded, and furthest from the labour market.

Ballyhoura IRD CEO Paddy Casey described the IRD Duhallow and Ballyhoura WorkAbility programme as an initiative addressing the many challenges faced by individuals of varying abilities in securing employment.