Mr. John Maher:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. I will supplement some of the points made by Mr. Hession. The disability liaison officers in the Department organise work placements for people with disabilities, specifically the willing able mentoring, WAM, project, and promote the interests of staff with disabilities. They liaise with external experts, such as the National Disability Authority, to research best practice. There is a disability liaison officer network across government to try to establish best practice.

I mentioned earlier what Enterprise Ireland and the IDA are doing in terms of employer engagement and outreach. Similar to my colleague, I do not believe there is a private sector employment target for persons with disabilities so I cannot speak to that.