DFI disappointed with Sligo County Council

The Disability Federation of Ireland, DFI, is bitterly disappointed to see Sligo County Council employing the lowest number of people with disabilities of any local authority in Ireland.

Latest figures show the Council with 1.2% of their workforce as people with disabilities, falling well short of the legal requirement of 3%. See National Disability Authority (NDA) Report on Compliance with Part 5 of the Disability Act on the Employment of People with Disabilities in the Public Sector

Only two local authorities failed to meet this minimum requirement and many exceeded it. Public bodies such as IT Sligo have a comparable rate of 3.5%. As Ireland prepares to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities, UN CRPD, this legal minimum is set to increase.

In this context, Sligo’s dismal performance is hard to understand said DFI’s Employment spokeswoman Joan O’ Donnell. “Public bodies like the Council are supposed to lead by example” she said. “They should be changing attitudes and taking positive action to address the fact that just 30% of people with disabilities have a job”.

“We know from NDA research that 43% would like to work if they had the right supports” she said. “People with disabilities are a huge, untapped reserve of talent in the Irish labour force. Public bodies such as theAdoption Authority of Ireland with 18% and Dublin City Council with 5.9% of their employees with a disability are enriching their workforces and part of a slow but steady increases in the public sector over the past four years.“

ENDS