Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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187. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the percentage of persons employed in her 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. [14432/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Data on the number and percentage of persons employed in my Department that have a disability is currently being collated for end of 2017.  This data is being prepared for submission to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Monitoring Committee by the 31st March 2018.  

The latest figures available in respect of my Department are for end of 2016. At 31st December 2016, my Department had 854 employees. Of these, 44 declared that they had a disability. This represents 5.15% of the Department’s Staff.  This data is per head count. Data is not recorded in whole time equivalent terms.

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 the 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 within 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).

The National Disability Inclusion Strategy, 2017 to 2021 is committed to increasing the public sector employment target of persons with disabilities from 3% to 6% by 2024, and will embed this target into all public service workforce planning and recruitment.