Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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80. To ask the Minister for Defence the number of persons classified as disabled who are currently employed by the Defence Forces. [43092/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Section 37(6) of the Employment Equality Act provides that matters relating to discrimination on the basis of age or disability do not apply to employment in the Defence Forces. Furthermore, Article 3(4) of Council Directive 2000/78/EC, the EU Framework Employment Directive, allows for Members States to provide that the Directive does not apply to armed forces insofar as it relates to discrimination on the grounds of age or disability.

On the basis of the above, the Defence Forces do not recruit or induct personnel who are classified as disabled.

I am informed by the military authorities that the medical module of the Defence Forces Personnel Management System does not capture data that would allow for classification of current personnel according to disease, disability or medical conditions. To produce the information you request would require a manual examination of the medical files of all serving personnel and you will appreciate that this is not feasible.