asked the Minister for Health what provisions exist for the encouragement of the employment of handicapped persons.

The health boards under the provisions of sections 68 and 69 of the Health Act, 1970, operate a rehabilitation service for handicapped persons, mainly through voluntary organisations. The health boards pay grants to the agencies in respect of training and so on, and persons living away from home while training are paid maintenance allowances.

The National Rehabilitation Board operate a placement service for those who have completed training and maintain close contact with employers with a view to obtaining employment for the trainees.

Arising out of the recommendations in the Report on Training and Employing the Handicapped a number of community workshops have been established. These have a dual role of training for open employment and providing sheltered work for those who are not fitted for such employment. AnCO also take a number of suitable handicapped persons into their training centres for a higher level of skilled training.

On paper this is very admirable but in practice it is not working out so well. Could I ask the Minister if he would consider the introduction of a disabled persons Bill in the Dáil or something to guarantee a charter of rights for the disabled so that we could compel employers who have a certain number of people employed to employ a percentage of disabled persons in that number? I realise that in the present economic situation it is not easy to consider this, but it should be looked at for future years.

Could I ask the Minister——

The practice of Deputies standing up and asking supplementary questions without the permission of the Chair is much too frequent.

I apologise to the Chair for any discourtesy.

I permit the Deputy to ask a question now.

Could I ask the Minister if he has any figures to suggest the relative success rate in recent years of handicapped persons in obtaining employment?

That is pertinent to the next question.

3.

asked the Minister for Health the total number of job placements of handicapped persons achieved by the National Rehabilitation Board in each of the last five years.

The numbers of job placements of handicapped persons achieved by the National Rehabilitation Board in each of the last five years were:— 1972, 771; 1973, 1,134; 1974, 920; 1975, 857; 1976, 902.

Might I ask the Minister what proportion of those on the register of the Rehabilitation Board would that number represent? Could those figures be obtained or would the Minister have them here?

No, I have not got them here but, as the Deputy knows, I have asked the health boards to compile a register. When we have that then we will be able to gauge the extent of the problem more accurately.

Would the Minister be in a position to outline the number of handicapped people employed in each Government Department, if there is a specific policy in regard to the employment of handicapped people in the public service?

There is a target of 3 per cent in the public service but I am afraid it has not nearly been reached as yet.

Is that the target hoped to be achieved?

That is the target set.

Is the Minister saying that his Government cannot reach the target we set?

I am not saying that. But if the Deputy wishes to draw me into that area—and I would have thought we could have dealt with this on a non-political basis—nothing was done in the Coalition time.