Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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296. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way in which his Department and agencies under his remit are working towards enabling access to employment for persons from minority and or disadvantaged communities, including, but not limited to, persons with disabilities, persons from ethnic minorities, Travellers, Mincéirí; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32742/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department complies with all central policy and guidance in relation to equality of opportunity in all of our employment practices. The vast majority of external recruitment for my Department is carried out by the Public Appointments Service and any additional recruitment undertaken by my Department is done in compliance with the terms of the recruitment licence issued to us by the Commission for Public Service Appointments.

Under the Disability Act 2005, public service bodies have a duty to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities and to ensure that at least 3% of their employees are people with disabilities. In addition, the Department has a statutory requirement to maintain accurate records on the number of staff with disabilities. To meet this requirement, on an annual basis, staff are requested to declare, confidentially, if they have a disability. In 2020 the percentage of staff working in my Department with a declared disability was 6%.

In terms of supporting equality and access to employment for all, additional measures within my Department include:

- Participation in the Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) programme since 2018 offering graduates with disabilities a 6 month work placement within the Department. This programme is a collaboration between the Irish Civil Service and AHEAD (Association for Higher Education Access and Disability).

- Support for the Job Shadow Day initiative on an annual basis, as part of the national project which brings people with disabilities and local employers together for one day; for the last number of years my Department has teamed with the Walkinstown Association for People with an Intellectual Disability (WALK). Due to Covid-19 we were not asked to participate in 2020.

- In 2020 my Department partnered with the North East Inner City Programme to provide a placement for a local student in its Custom House office. These placements have been paused as part of public health restrictions during the COVID 19 pandemic but the Department remains committed to the programme.

- In 2020 my Department introduced its Universal Design and Accessibility Policy and Action Plan, which aims to demonstrate the Department’s commitment to accessibility, the principles of Universal Design and reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities.

- During 2020 and 2021, my Department ran Disability Awareness Training and Autism Awareness Training, supporting our commitments under the National Disability Inclusion Strategy 2017-2021.

- My Department has a Disability Liaison Officer who provides additional support to staff with disabilities on an ongoing basis, providing reasonable accommodations as appropriate.

The details requested in relation to bodies under the aegis of my Department are a matter for the individual bodies concerned. Arrangements have been put in place by each Agency to facilitate the provision of information by State Bodies directly to members of the Oireachtas. The contact email addresses for each agency are set out in the table below.