Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The NDA will monitor and report on progress in respect of employment. I have also set up a team under the national disability inclusion strategy, which meets every couple of months. I bring in officials from every Department and we sit around the table and ask what they have done on disabilities over the previous three or four months. There is accountability to me as Minister of State and it is up to me to drive the process forward. Some Departments have a good record and are above the 3.5% rate. Some are in that zone but I want to get them up to 4% and 5%. The accountability is directly to me and to the Secretaries General of the Departments. There is also accountability at Cabinet level. A point I make at Cabinet meetings is that it is not just the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities who has to be involved in supporting people with disabilities. Every Department represented at the Cabinet table must bring something to it to develop and support people with disabilities. We have a couple of thousand people with disabilities working in different Departments, including the Departments of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Education and Skills, and Health. I want that number increased on a phased basis. That is the way I do it. The accountability is to me, Secretaries General and, ultimately, to Cabinet in a broader sense. It is up to us to drive this forward while the NDA monitors and reports on progress. It clips our wings every now and again, let us be honest.