Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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878. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the percentage or number of staff with a disability working in her Department and the agencies under her aegis in 2018, 2019 and 2020; and the actions being undertaken by her Department to actively recruit and retain persons with disabilities. [42150/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department is strongly committed to the development and implementation of measures to promote and support the employment of individuals with disabilities. The Department supports the best practice principles in this area, as set out in the 'Code of Practice for the employment of people with disability in the Civil Service'.

The Department has a Disability Liaison Officer in place whose role is to:

- Act as the point of contact for Civil Servants with disabilities, their managers and HR Units;

- Assist and support Civil Servants with disabilities, in confidence, and their line managers by providing necessary information, appropriate contacts, guidance, suggestions and advice;

- Assist in the implementation of best Human Resource practices in line with equality legislation;

- Facilitate increased awareness of disability throughout the organisation;

- Attend meetings of the Civil Service Disability Liaison Officers Network.

Public sector bodies are obliged under the Disability Act 2005:

- To promote and support the employment of people with disabilities;

- To ensure, where practicable, that 3% of all staff employed are people with disabilities;

- To report every year on the number and percentage of employees with disabilities.

Table A outlines the percentage of staff in the Department of Rural and Community Development and the agencies under the department’s remit, who declared a disability in 2018 and 2019:

Table A:

While Pobal is an agency of the Department, it does not fall within the remit of the Disability Act 2005, concerning the collation of disability statistics.

The Department will complete its 2020 returns in early 2021, and return to the NDA by the deadline of 30 June 2021.