Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012
605. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the position regarding recruiting persons with a disability; the number of persons currently employed in his Department; the number of persons with a disability who have been employed since 1 January 2011 to date in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37840/12]
View answerMy Department as a public service employer has a legal obligation under the Disability Act 2005 to report each year on the number and percentage of employees with disabilities. In order to build an accurate record of the number of staff with disabilities, in accordance with the legal definition in the 2005 Act, every employee, whether or not they have any impairment or disability, is asked to complete a census form and return it, in confidence, to the nominated person. While public bodies have a statutory obligation to report, there is no obligation on employees to disclose if they have a disability.
At 31st December 2011, My Department had 818 employees. Of these, 54 declared that they had a disability. This represents 6.6% of the Departments Staff. The Labour Relations Commission which is an Office of my Department was reported on separately. At 31st December the LRC had 50 employees, 5 of whom had declared they had a disability. This represents 10% of the employees of the LRC. All staff of the Department are recruited through the Public Appointments Service, which occasionally administers competitions specifically for persons with disabilities. However, there has been no such recruitment since 2009 due to the moratorium.
