Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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165. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the policy regarding the employment of persons with disabilities in her Department and in each State and semi-State body under the aegis of her Department; if there is a responsibility to employ persons with disabilities to a quota of 3% of its workforce; if this quota has now been exceeded; if there has been an advertised competition in relation to this quota; if not, the reason therefor; the dates and details of such competitions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27140/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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My Department as a public service employer has a legal obligation under the Disability Act 2005 to report each year on the number and percentage of employees with disabilities. Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 sets out the following obligations on Government Departments and public service bodies with regard to the employment of people with disabilities.

- Public bodies must, insofar as practicable, take all reasonable measures to promote and support their employment of people with disabilities.

- Public bodies shall ensure, unless there are good reasons for not doing so, that at least 3% of their employees are people with disabilities.

- Public bodies must report on an annual basis to a statutory monitoring committee in their parent Department on the number of people with disabilities in their employment and the measures they are taking to promote and support their employment. The monitoring committees in turn submit their reports on such compliance to the Minister of their parent Department and the National Disability Authority (NDA).

In order to build an accurate record of the number of staff with disabilities, in accordance with the legal definition in the 2005 Act, every employee, whether or not they have any impairment or disability, is asked to complete a census form and return it, in confidence, to the nominated person. While public bodies have a statutory obligation to report, there is no obligation on employees to disclose if they have a disability.

Under the Disability Act, public bodies staffed by civil servants report via the Monitoring Committee in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, while all other public bodies report via the Monitoring Committee in their parent Departments. Public bodies must report to their Monitoring Committees by 31^stMarch each year. Each Monitoring Committee must then report to its respective Minister and the National Disability Authority by the 30^thJune.

At 31^stDecember 2015, my Department had 842 employees. Of these, 48 declared that they had a disability. This represents 5.7% of the Department's Staff. 

As the Monitoring Committees have not yet reported on the 2016 figures - albeit that this data is being collated at this time - the latest figures available in respect of my Department and the bodies within its remit are the 2015 figures listed in the table below.

All staff of the Department are recruited through the Public Appointments Service, except Service and Cleaning staff, which occasionally administers competitions specifically for persons with disabilities.