Mayfield Workers’ Party representative Ted Tynan has condemned the withdrawal of a €25 weekly ‘attendance allowance’ paid to trainees in sheltered workshops run by Rehab, saying it was the meanest form of penny-pinching.

Mr. Tynan said that he had been approached by a number of parents and family members of adult trainees in Rehab who have an intellectual disability who were appalled that the allowance had been withdrawn.

“The men and women work the same as anyone else.  They are productive citizens and are doing something useful while at the same time being, trained, kept active and in a sheltered environment.  While Rehab is a not-for-profit body, its treatment of these workers is more like exploitation than provision of a service”, said Ted Tynan.

“It is clear that the state is falling down in its duty to these citizens and their families by leaving it to a charity to provide their training and employment but to suggest they should work for nothing is nothing short of  a disgrace.  They should at very least be paid the minimum wage, and if Rehab is unable to pay this then the state must step in”. 

Issued 2nd December 2008