Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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1336. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the way his Department is improving services and increasing supports for persons with disabilities during 2017; [34029/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 sets out the legal obligations of public service bodies:- to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities

- to comply with any statutory Code of Practice

- to meet a target of 3% of employees with disabilities

- to report every year on achievement of these obligations.

The NDA reports on compliance with this 3% target. In its latest published report for the calendar year 2015, the NDA noted that in the Department of Defence, 3.1% of civil servants and 4.6% of civilian employees indicated that they had disabilities. The equivalent returns for 2016 were 5.39% and 4.3% respectively.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES) was launched by the Government on 2 October 2015.

The Government have already taken a number of key decisions as recommended in the Strategy:

- the public service employment target for people with disabilities will be increased on a phased basis as set out in the Strategy from 3% to 6%.

- special public service competitions for people with disabilities will be arranged and we will open up alternative recruitment channels for people with disabilities.

These and other recommendations of the Strategy are being considered by a cross-party group chaired by Mr Fergus Finlay.

The Department has appointed a Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) who is available to provide advice and assistance to employees with disabilities if required. Disability awareness is promoted within the Department and workplace accommodation is provided to staff with disabilities on request.