Improving facilities for the disabled in the workplace should be rewarded with VAT exemptions, a conference on labour equality has heard.

And existing grant aid for employers who hire disabled staff must be publicised more widely, the Irish Wheelchair Association told the Equality Authority seminar on "building an inclusive workplace".

Every building in the State should be legally required to be wheelchair accessible, the organisation said. Urging the government to show greater rigour in its policing of wheelchair accessibility, Mr Olan McGowan, advocacy co-ordinator at the association, said claims that some structures were inherently unsuitable for wheelchair users simply didn't wash.

In the long run, indifferent enforcement would have consequences for wider society, said Mr McGowan.