For Tom Martin, group personnel manager of Belleek Pottery in Co Fermanagh, ensuring his business caters for people with disabilities is simply common sense.

"Disabled people have spending power just like anyone else," he says. "So do their carers, and we want their business as much as we want anyone else's."

Belleek, which employs about 240 people and this year celebrates its 150th anniversary, is among several companies recognised in the category of environmental accessibility in this year's O2 Ability Awards.

It is the second year that the group has been commended in this category, which requires an organisation to ensure that buildings and work-stations are accessible in every way possible for employees, guests and customers of all abilities. This year it has also added an accolade in the area of recruitment and selection.

As well as being a ceramic manufacturer, Belleek is also one of Ireland's major tourist attractions, giving it plenty of opportunities to ensure the business caters for people with varying levels of abilities.

As well as providing easy access to its complex for people with disabilities and adapting tours to suit those in wheelchairs, Belleek also employs people with disabilities. In addition, it has a very tolerant attitude towards employees who have been out on sick leave, easing them back into the workplace gradually.

Still, if you listen to Martin, being a disability-friendly organisation isn't exactly hard work.

"A lot of things we seem to be doing as a matter of course," he says, adding that if you provide well for visitors, they will return, and if you look after your staff, then in the long run they will be more productive.

Catering as best you can for your customers and employees is also on the mind of Chris Clarke, founding director of Clarke & Associates, a Kildare-based engineering consultancy that focuses on building design.

For Clarke, the most important aspect of his job is finding out exactly what his clients want from their building before starting on any design plans.

"You need to talk to the people that are going to be using the building," he says. "Find out what they want from it and if there are any special requirements."

Clarke & Associates, which employs about 15 people, has been involved in building design for 10 years, but over the past few years it has developed a speciality in buildings where the users have specific requirements.

Projects to date include several designs for schools owned by St Michael's House in Dublin, drawing up plans for the headquarters of disability charity Kare in Newbridge, Co Kildare, and designing special areas for children with special needs in schools under contract to the Department of Education.

It is the company's achievements in this area that have been recognised by the O2 Ability Awards, which have commended the group in the category of leadership.

Clarke & Associates is an unusual recommendation for the category of leadership, which requires a company to show a commitment to disability and to seek to transmit this commitment throughout the organisation, given the fact that the company has no employees with disabilities.

However, assessing its catalogue of achievements in building design for use by those with disabilities, it is evident that the company knows what it is doing. After all, its own self-designed offices are disability-friendly and "ready to go" should the need arise, according to Clarke.

Belleek, Clarke & Associates and other companies, including AIB, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, the Clarion Hotel and George Best Airport in Belfast, which were also recognised in these two categories, will be represented at an awards ceremony in Dublin on June 15th.

Two overall winners will be named - one from the public and one from the private sector - as well as one winner in each of the six categories and a separate award for best small company.