The Disability Federation of Ireland is urging the Government to implement a commitment to increase the amount that people with disabilities can earn while still qualifying for a medical card.
It follows a Central Statistics Office report published today that showed less than a third of people with disabilities were in employment.
The CSO study 'The Wellbeing of the Nation 2017' examined a range of areas and indicators of progress in Ireland.
It found that in 2016 the employment rate for people with disabilities was 29%, which was the same level as in 2013.
A study by the Economic and Social Research Institute published last year found that 31% of working-age people with a disability were at work.
Joan O'Donnell, Employment Spokesperson with the DFI, said medical card eligibility was one of the things stopping people from getting work.
She said despite today's CSO study showing unemployment in general had come down, nothing had changed for people with disabilities, from before the recession, during the recession, or now that the economy had improved.
Ms O'Donnell said the Government needed to look at measuring the impact of policies, such as the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for Persons with Disabilities, to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
Minister for Health Simon Harris told the Dáil in November that he intended to implement a recommendation to raise the medical card income disregard from its current level of €120 per week for people on disability allowance by the end of 2017.
The recommendation came from an interdepartmental group set up under the Comprehensive Employment Strategy.
This evening, the Department of Health said that the recommendation will be implemented very shortly.
A spokesperson for the department said work on that measure was nearing completion, and it was intended to implement the recommendation early this year, and that this would be ahead of the recommended implementation date of the last quarter of 2018.
The spokesperson said analysis had been undertaken to examine the number of people that would stand to benefit under this measure and to identify the best administrative route to implementing a change in the earnings disregard.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection said the Government was committed to increasing the employment opportunities for people with a disability.
The spokesperson said the aim of the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities, launched in 2015, was to increase the number of people at work, and the proportion of people with disabilities in a job.
The spokesperson said overall the expected outcome of the strategy was that the employment rate of people with disabilities would increase to 38% in 2024.
