Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am fully committed to ensuring that more people with disabilities are employed in the public service. The public service must show leadership in this area.

Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 sets out obligations on public bodies to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities. The obligation previously set a minimum target such that 3% of public sector workers should be persons with disabilities. Government has doubled that statutory target for the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector via the Assisted Decision-Making Capacity (Amendment) Act 2022. This measure was commenced by the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, in April. The disability Act was amended and the minimum target was doubled from 3% to 6%. This will increase on a phased basis to 4.5% on 1 January 2024, and to 6% on 1 January 2025.

I will be contacting my ministerial colleagues to draw attention to the increased targets and to the implications for their Departments and bodies under their aegis. I will also be making contact with bodies under the aegis of my Department and with the HSE.

The National Disability Authority, NDA, prepares an annual report on compliance with Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 each year. The most recent report relates to figures for 2021. The then minimum target of 3% was exceeded by the public service as a whole for the 11th year in a row, as it stood at an overall figure of 3.6 %. This figure of 3.6% is very small and make us outliers in Europe, and there is no denying that.

Although there is certainly work to be done to ensure the 6% target is met, the overall trend in recent years is encouraging. The report on compliance in 2021 indicates that 36.5% of public bodies were already meeting the new target. This represents a positive increase on the previous year's figure of only 28.4%. In 2021, the overall number of public sector employees reporting a disability increased by 18% on the previous year's figures.

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