Vol. 447 No. 1
272 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the proportion of new recruits to each semi-State body in each of the past three years who have been persons with a disability; and the steps, if any, he is taking to ensure that regular information of this type is brought to the attention of each body. [3259/94]
I understand that the Department of Finance does not have any central records of the staff with disabilities recruited by means of standard open competitions or their date of appointment nor do the records supplied to that Department identify staff with disabilities.
In the case of Semi-State bodies and the wider public service, I understand that the Monitoring Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities, which operates under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, may have some statistics in that regard but that these are not generally available.
In the case of my own Department three persons with disabilities, representing 4.6 per cent of its staff, have been recruited since it was established in January 1993. Two of those, 3.1 per cent, were recruited in 1993, and the remaining one, 0.94 per cent, was taken on in 1994.
In the Legal Aid Board, which operates under the aegis of my Department, one person, 1 per cent, was recruited in 1993. The Employment Equality Agency has not recruited any person with a disability in the past three years.
As regards the general arrangements about the production, on a regular basis, of statistics relating to the employment of people with disabilities, I would prefer to await the views and recommendations of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities in that respect.
