Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 28:

In page 40, between lines 46 and 47, to insert the following:

"(5) The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before each House of the Oireachtas, a report on the possibility of increasing the public service employment quota for people with disabilities above 3 per cent.".

This amendment calls for a report on the possibility of increasing the public service employment quota for people with disabilities above 3%. On Committee Stage the Minister of State was critical of the fact that I am only asking for a report on the possibility of increasing the quota. The implication is that I should have sought an increase. I am trying to make it as easy as possible for him. I did not think he would accept my amendment if I asked for an increase in the quota. My amendment is very fair in that I am only asking for a report which would examine how the present quota is currently working in each Department from which we could deduce whether the quota should be increased.

I believe we should increase the quota. Some Departments are doing very well in this regard while others are doing very badly. Therefore, a report on this issue would be important. If we cannot get public bodies to employ more people with disabilities, how can we expect the private sector to do so? It is an enormous help to disabled people to provide them with employment. It is well known that people with disabilities who are unemployed are at a greater risk of living in poverty than able-bodied unemployed people. It is vitally important that we do everything we can to facilitate people with disabilities to get into the workforce. Many people with disabilities face obstacles to getting into the workforce but once they are employed they have a significant contribution to make. Many of them are capable of working alongside able-bodied persons, which is an advantage to everybody in the workforce.

It is time we raised the quota of 3% which has been in place for a number of years so as to facilitate more disabled people to get into the workforce. My amendment does not even go that far, it merely asks the Minister to draw up a report on the possibility of increasing the quota. That report would facilitate all of us in terms of how well the system is working. Perhaps the Minister of State would be able to provide us with the percentages of disabled people currently working in each Department. In that way we would be able to see how well or how badly Departments are faring in this regard. We know that some of them are doing badly and that is not acceptable.

Perhaps the Minister of State could also inform me if a timeframe is set for each Department to reach the quota. In the absence of one they would never achieve it. The setting of targets in legislation is a point I have stressed in regard to many amendments today. If there is no onus on people to comply, they will not do so. It is an opt out, a cop-out. My amendment is very fair and does not ask a lot of the Minister of State. It does not require him to increase the quota but to provide a report on the possibility of doing so. I hope he will accept it.