Almost 1,000 disabled people a year finish training for employment but cannot get jobs, the chairwoman of the National Rehabilitation Board, Ms Jacqui Browne, said yesterday.
She was speaking at the publication of a code of practice for the employment of people with disabilities in local authorities. The code was launched by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey.
"People with disabilities are largely an untapped pool of talent who are very much needed in a booming economy," Mr Dempsey said.
The Employment Equality Act, which comes into force next month, will prohibit discrimination on the ground of disability in relation to recruitment, he said. He wanted the public service to "lead the process of doing the right thing by people with disabilities".
Referring to the long-standing Government target that 3 per cent of public service jobs should go to people with disabilities, the Minister said there had been substantial progress in the local authorities. In 1991 just 0.6 per cent of local authority staff were people with disabilities, he said. By the end of 1997 the figure had risen to 2.6 per cent, though some local authorities were still under the 1 per cent figure.
"I want all local authorities to have reached the 3 per cent quota by the end of this year. Those lagging behind have already heard from my Department.
"Every vacancy occurring - and there should be many arising in the local government renewal process - should be carefully and positively examined to see whether it could be filled by a person with a disability, if necessary reorganising work arrangements to suit," Mr Dempsey said.
Ms Browne said that of 2,225 people with disabilities who completed their training last year, only 476 gained employment in the open labour market. A further 355 secured work in supported or sheltered employment settings and 456 went on to other types of training programmes.
"But 938 people with disabilities did not proceed into any type of further training or employment," she said. A similar outcome is expected this year.
Mr Michael Gogarty, disability policy adviser with SIPTU, said that in the UK a survey of employers found that 79 per cent of workers with disabilities had performance and productivity levels equal to or better than non-disabled workers. Workers with disabilities were more likely to remain with their employers than were workers without disabilities.
But the same survey found that only 6 per cent of personnel departments would give an interview to a person with a disability.
The Dublin City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said about 4 per cent of Dublin Corporation's 6,300 staff had disabilities "and these individuals work successfully across all levels of the organisation".