Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can only speak about my Department. Part 5 of Disability Act 2005 provides for a statutory report on the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector. As part of this report, we conduct an annual disability census survey of our employees and 3,156 employees responded anonymously to the 2021 survey. Of those who responded, 440 disclosed disabilities. This constitutes 6.5% of the overall Department staff complement as of 31 December 2021. The Department has, therefore, made substantial progress in increasing the number of staff disclosing a disability. Recruitment for the Department is conducted by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, and it is committed to ensuring that employment competitions are accessible to individuals requiring adaptations of competitions processes and the applicants are facilitated in that regard. The Department has engaged with PAS to discuss recruitment overall and to advise on a public appointments strategy to enhance equal opportunities in the recruitment process. As Deputy Hourigan stated, the public sector needs to lead on this issue because we must ensure we take on people with disabilities and give them a fair and equal opportunity to contribute to the various Departments across the Civil Service.