asked the Minister for the Public Service the total number of handicapped persons presently employed in the public service; and this number as a percentage of the total number employed in the public service.
408.
Written Answers. - Handicapped Persons Employment.
407.
asked the Minister for the Public Service the total number of handicapped persons recruited by the public service in the last two years.
409.
asked the Minister for the Public Service the annual recruitment of handicapped persons to the public sector necessary to meet the 3 per cent quota by the target date of 1982.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, it is proposed to reply to Questions Nos. 407, 408 and 409 together.
An interdepartmental committee, under the aegis of the Minister for Labour, is at present examining the problems arising from the decision to employ a 3 per cent quota of handicapped persons in the public service.
Pending a report from the committee, and because of the difficulties of defining the degrees and types of handicaps to be recorded, separate statistics have not been kept of the total number of handicapped persons employed in the public service or recruited thereto in the past two years.
Accordingly, it is not yet possible to say what would be the annual recruitment of handicapped persons to the public section necessary to meet by 1982 the 3 per cent quota laid down by the Government for the employment of handicapped persons.