Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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466. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection how her Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under hers remit meet their obligations for reasonable accommodation under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015. [23055/23]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Social Protection (DSP) and its Public Bodies and Agencies are committed to meeting its obligations for reasonable accommodation under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015. In its most recent survey the percentage of employees in the Department who declared a disability was 6.37% of the workforce (i.e. 437 employees of the 6,860 staffing), exceeding with civil and public service aim of a minimum of 3%.

The Department has well established supports in place for people with disabilities including a dedicated Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) who provides support to staff and managers through advice, information, and reasonable accommodations and an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Unit (ED&I) with whom the DLO collaborates allowing for further promotion of disability awareness and supports. This unit also organises department wide ED&I events, including International Day for Persons with Disabilities each December and several Disability Awareness initiatives throughout the calendar year.

The Department has participated in the Willing, Able, Mentoring (WAM) Programme aimed at people with disabilities who are graduates seeking work experience, recruiting four candidates in 2022 as temporary Executive Officers for a six-month period. For the first time, DSP has now permanently employed three of these candidates. Also in 2022, DSP employed one candidate from the Oireachtas Work Learning (OWL) programme and this staff member has progressed to a permanent contract. The Department has committed to participating in both these programmes again in 2023.

The two bodies under the remit of the Department's i.e. Pensions Authority and Citizens Information Board will respond separately to the Deputy, shortly.