Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 October 2023
481. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is there is an obligation on local authorities to ensure that they meet a minimum statutory obligation for the number of people with disabilities employed within a local authority as public sector staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46352/23]
View answer482. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there is an obligation on public bodies to ensure they meet a minimum statutory requirement for the number of employees in a particular public body that have a disability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46353/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 481 and 482 together.
As the Minister of State with Responsibility for Disability I am fully committed to ensuring that more people with disabilities are employed in the public service. The public sector must show leadership in this area.
Part 5 of the Disability Act 2005 sets out obligations on public bodies to promote and support the employment of people with disabilities. The definition of "public body" within the Act includes local authorities. These obligations previously set a minimum target such that 3% of public sector workers should be persons with disabilities.
Government has doubled that statutory target for the employment of people with disabilities in the public sector via the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022. This measure was commenced by Minister O'Gorman in April of this year. The Disability Act was amended and the minimum target was doubled from 3% to 6%. This increase will occur on a phased basis - to 4.5% on 1 January 2024, and to 6% on 1 January 2025.
The National Disability Authority (NDA) prepares an annual report on compliance with Part 5 of the Disability Act each year. The most recent Report relates to figures for 2021. The then minimum target of 3% was exceeded by the public service as a whole for the eleventh year in a row, and stood at an overall figure of 3.6 %.
Although there is certainly work to be done to ensure that the 6% target is met, the overall trend in recent years is encouraging. The report on compliance in 2021 indicates that 36.5% of public bodies were already meeting the new target. This represents a positive increase on the previous year's figure of 28.4%. In 2021, the overall number of public sector employees reporting a disability increased by 18% on the previous year's figures.
I am pleased to see this upward trend and I note the progress achieved in recent years by the Public Appointments Service as it continues to develop more inclusive pathways into the public sector workforce. This will help to lay the foundation towards reaching the new 6% target from 1 January 2025.
