Vol. 510 No. 6
356 Mr. Dennehy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number and percentage of persons employed in the public service, excluding the Civil Service, who may be described as suffering from a disability; and the proposals, if any, he has to improve the situation if this level does not meet the recommended level of 3 per cent. [23402/99]
My Department is responsible for the monitoring of the 3 per cent quota for employment of people with disabilities in the public sector, other than the Civil Service. Earlier this year, I set up a monitoring committee, chaired by my Department and composed of representatives of each Department, of the social partners under Partnership 2000 and of the relevant interest groups, to progress the attainment of this target.
Provisional figures for 31 December 1998, compiled by the monitoring committee from returns submitted by the various Departments in relation to the public sector bodies/agencies under their aegis, indicate that the percentage of people with disabilities employed in the broader public sector stands at 1.7 per cent. This represents 3,050 persons out of a total staff of 178,980.
The monitoring committee noted that a small number of the bodies have increased the number of people with disabilities they employ to the extent that they have achieved or exceeded the quota. The committee is seeking to determine the reasons for success by these bodies as well as ascertaining why the quota has not been met in other areas. Among factors contributing to the non-attainment of the quota are that jobs in some bodies, e.g., those which require certain physical skills or which involve policing type or other security type duties, may not be suited to persons with certain disabilities, that there are insufficient people with disabilities who have achieved third level qualifications where the job has such entry requirements and that in some bodies there has been no intake of new staff in recent years.
As regards the steps taken to improve the situation, it is recognised that the putting in place of codes of practice will make a important contribution to the objective of increasing the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector bodies. My colleague, Deputy Dempsey, Minister for the Environment and Local Government, recently launched a code of practice on the employment of people with disabilities in the local authority service. The monitoring committee has endorsed this code as the model which might be suitable for adoption or modification by each body or agency under the aegis of Departments. Deputy Mary Wallace, Minister of State at my Department, who has special responsibility for equality and disabilities, has communicated this view to each Minister. She has requested their active support in progressing the adoption of codes of practice in relation to the public sector bodies/agencies under each Department.
