Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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1512. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the proportion of employees in her Department or in organisations under its remit registered disabled. [1851/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 sets out the legal obligations of public service bodies to meet a target of 3% of employees with disabilities. Under the Act, the National Disability Authority (NDA) has the statutory role to report, on an annual basis, on compliance with the 3% target. 

The Disability Act 2005 defines disability as follows:

“Disability, in relation to a person, means a substantial restriction in the capacity of the person to carry on a profession, business or occupation in the State or to participate in social or cultural life in the State by reason of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment.”

In order to report on this target my Department asks every employee, whether or not they have any disability, to complete a census form and return it, in confidence, to the nominated person in the HR Unit. 

Based on these returns, my Department reported a total of 6.32% of staff who had declared a disability as at 31 December 2016.

My  Department acts as the monitoring committee for the collection of this data from the agencies under its remit. For the end of December 2016, the agencies reported the following: