Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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165. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of persons employed in his Department that have a disability, expressed in whole-time equivalent terms and in head count terms; and the way in which the number of persons with disabilities employed compares with national targets. [14437/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Disability Act 2005 requires public bodies to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities and to achieve a target of 3% of staff with disabilities. In this Department in 2016 the percentage of employees with a disability under the definition of the Disability Act 2005 was 3.94% (head count) and 3.78% (whole time equivalent).

Under the comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities, which was published in 2015, the Government committed to progressively increasing the public employment target of 3% to 6%. This Department and its agencies will work to achieve the new targets in the coming years.