Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2006
339 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the targeted percentage of employment of people with a disability by his Department; if the 3 per cent target be surpassed or is his Department restricted to this percentage; the percentage of people with a disability employed in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24823/06]
View answerThe Disability Act, 2005 provides a new statutory basis for the implementation and compliance monitoring of the 3% employment target for people with a disability in the public sector. This percentage is not a ‘ceiling' i.e. Departments and Offices are not restricted to a maximum of 3% of their staff being people with disabilities.
The current position in my Department is that 155, or 3.3% of the total staff are persons with declared disabilities.
In line with the provisions of the Disability Act, specific commitments in relation to human resources and employment practices for staff with disabilities have been included in my Department's Sectoral Plan which will be published shortly.
In addition, my Department is participating in the Willing Able Mentoring (WAM) project during this summer. The WAM Project, which is administered by the Association of Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD), aims to provide temporary placements with public and private sector employers to graduates with disabilities.
