Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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460. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the percentage or number of staff working with a disability within his Department and the agencies under his aegis in 2018, 2019 and 2020; and the actions being undertaken by his Department to actively recruit and retain persons with disabilities. [42138/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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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 and on a voluntary basis, to the nominated person in the HR Unit. 

Based on these returns, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs  reported a total of 5.05% of staff who had declared a disability as at 31 December 2018 and 5.23% as at 31 December 2019.

Following the transfer of functions, the newly established Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will be reporting on the  number of staff who have declared a disability as at 31 December 2020 to the monitoring committee in DPER  in the first quarter of 2021.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs acted as the monitoring committee for the collection of this data from the agencies under its remit.  The information sought by the Deputy for the end of 2018 and 2019 is provided hereunder.

The information from the agencies for the end of 2020 is not available at this time.

As an independent body, the Ombudsman for Children's  Office reports directly to the Department of Expenditure and Reform with their statistical return on employees with a disability. I have asked that office to furnish the information requested directly to the Deputy.

While this Department uses the Public Service Appointments to recruit new staff,  the Department also participates in the Willing, Able and Mentoring (WAM) Programme which offers 6 month placements at EO level to graduates with disabilities. While the Association of Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) runs this programme, it works with PAS in identifying suitable candidates for this programme.