The winners of the first O2 Ability Awards have been announced. Fifty companies have been given the award for their commitment to creating real opportunities in business for people with disabilities.

The winners represent a cross-section of business in Ireland, including large corporations such as AIB and Tesco Ireland as well as smaller companies such as estate agents and property consultants Hamilton Osborne King.

More than 100 companies took part in the awards programme.

Of these, 50 will receive an O2 Ability Award, five will get a category award and two overall best practice awards will be given, one for the private and one for the non-private sector.

The awards will be presented by the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, at a function in Dublin next month. The two overall award winners will be announced at this event.

The awards included several stages of assessment which examined all aspects of employment including policies, procedures and attitudes.

The judging was carried out by experts in disability management,equality management and corporate and business affairs as well as people with disabilities.

The founder of the awards, Ms Caroline Casey, said that a strong emerging theme was one of diversity being "a key driver of success in many businesses".

"Looking at people's abilities rather than their disabilities has helped many businesses enjoy significant growth and profit, " she said.

O2 chief executive Ms Danuta Grey said that the telecoms group embraced the diversity and individuality of people's needs and "are committed to developing our services to enable others to get the most from mobile technology."

The awards process is driven by the Aisling Foundation and is run in partnership with disability management consultants Access Ability.

It is sponsored by O2 and is supported by The Irish Times, Newstalk 106FM, FÁS and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.