Equal Opportunities Employment

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Questions (234)

Pauline Tully

Question:

234. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number and percentage of people with disabilities employed across his Department and bodies under the aegis of his Department in each of the years 2020 to 2023; the number and percentage of people with disabilities employed across his Department and bodies under the aegis of his Department in the corresponding timeframe that had full-time contracts; and the number and percentage of people with disabilities employed in his Department and bodies under the aegis of his Department in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 that had part-time contracts, in tabular form. [30958/24]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

In compliance with Section 47(4) of the Disability Act, my Department surveys all employees annually to establish the number of employees who have a disability.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has exceeded the 3% minimum target for persons with disabilities in each of the last ten years. It should be noted that disclosure by individuals of their disability status is voluntary, as is the disclosure of the nature of any disability disclosed.

Figures for the number and percentage of persons employed in my Department who have declared a disability are in the table below. A breakdown of the number of those persons who were on full-time contracts and those who were on part-time contracts is not available as their disability status is not recorded on their personnel files for confidentiality reasons.

Year	Number	Percentage
2020	137	3.65%
2021	139	3.6%
2022	166	4.2%
2023	202	5%

The question of the employment of persons with disabilities in the State Bodies under the aegis of the Department is a matter for the Agencies themselves. This information has been requested from the State Bodies in question and the information will be forwarded to the Deputy directly.