Carlow County council says its treats its obligations under the Disability Act “most seriously” and will continue to do so.
It’s after a report from the Disability Federation of Ireland yesterday was critical of the local authority for failing to meet the legal requirements on employing people with disabilities.
But the council says the figures in the report refer to 2015 when there was a very poor return rate of a staff disability census form which is how the data is collected.
The Council in a statement to KCLR news says its of the view that the 2015 figure is unreliable and that a concentrated effort to encourage all staff to complete the census form for 2016 was made with a marked increase in the return rate.
Its own preliminary figures indicate 3.76% of its staff have a disability – which is above the legal requirement of 3 percent.
According to the council 29% of the forms are still to be returned and the outcome of this is expected to increase the rate even further.
