Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 8 May 2001

Vol. 535 No. 4

Written Answers - Departmental Staff.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

157 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number, grade and professional-technical description of established positions in his Department; the number of such positions which are currently filled in an acting capacity; the number of such positions which are vacant; the number of such positions which are vacant for more than one year; the steps which are being taken by his Department to fill these vacant positions; if a Civil Service competition is required; if the existing panel can be utilised; when it is expected to fill these vacant positions; if the inability to maintain a full complement of established positions is delaying the implementation of the national development plan; if the existence of these vacancies has been reported to the committee of the Cabinet charged with overseeing the implementation of the national development plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13041/01]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh)

The required information is set out in the following schedule. Posts shown in acting capacity column are those posts filled on a temporary acting up allowance. These are primarily temporary vacancies which have arisen for a variety of reasons, for example, maternity, sick, parental, special leave and other short time needs. By their nature it is not appropriate to fill them on a permanent basis. It is common practice in this Department to fill some senior level positions initially by means of a higher duty allowance. As the permanent post has been filled it is not regarded as a vacancy and these posts are not therefore included in the acting capacity column.

Vacancies in recruitment level posts are filled through the Civil Service Commission or through the central transfer list. In relation to those posts filled by the commission, it has requests on hands for all vacant positions in the Department. The timeframe for filling these posts varies as it depends on the take-up of the post in question and whether or not a panel is already in existence. The use and existence of panels is a matter for the commission.

Vacancies in promotion posts are normally filled from internal promotion panels. Current panels exist for all vacancies listed with the exception of HEO. Interviews are currently being conducted with a view to establishing an internal HEO panel. The timeframe for filling vacancies where panels exist is approximately a month but provincial vacancies can sometimes take a bit longer.

My Department has not been made aware of an instance where the delay in filling vacancies has affected the implementation of the national development plan.

Staff Numbers

Grade Title	EstablishedPositions	ActingCapacity	Vacancies	How Vacancieswill be filled
Secretary General Agriculture	1
Asst. Secretary	9
Chief Insp/Agr. Inspectorate	1
Chief Veterinary Officer	1
Deputy Chief Inspector	1
Deputy Chief Veterinary Off.	3
Director Vet. Research Lab.	1
Deputy Dir. Vet. Research Lab.	1		1	Internal
Principal	31
Senior Inspector	12	1	1	Internal
Senior Superintend. Vet. Insp.	10
Head of Legal Unit			1	Civ. Ser. Comm.
Superintend. Sen. Research Off.	4
Asst. Principal	97	2
Examiner of Title Agric.	1
First Asst. Solicitor Agric.	1
Superintending Vet. Insp.	44		1	Internal
Senior Research Officer	14
Agricultural Inspector	73.5
Senior Architect	1
Inspector Grade 1	6
Professional Accountant Gr. 2	1
Inspector Grade 2	25
Research Officer	20
Veterinary Inspector	234.5
Chemist	2.5
Administrative Officer	4		2	Civ. Ser. Comm.
Higher Executive Officer	229.5	8	17	Civ. Ser. Comm/Internal
Inspector Grade 3	8
Chief Technologist	1
Asst. Solicitor	1
Grade Title	EstablishedPositions	ActingCapacity	Vacancies	How Vacancieswill be filled
District Superintendent	109	1	1	Int. Promotion Panel
Asst. Agricultural Insp. Agric.	76
Librarian	1
Area Superintendent	21
Dairy Produce Officer	17
Senior Dairy Produce Officer	3
Supervising Instr. Poultry	1
Senior Legal Clerk	1
Executive Officer	419	22
Asst. Superintendent Surveyor	1
Supervisory Agric. Off.	296.5		46	Int. Promotion Panel
Supervising Poultry Officer	1
Senior Lab. Tech. Class 2	7
Legal Clerk	1		1	Civ. Ser. Comm.
Staff Officer	162	7	5	Internal
Asst. Librarian Agric. and Office of Public Works	1
Poultry Officer	8
Technical Agricultural Off.	727		98	Civ. Ser. Comm. Panel
Senior Lab. Tech. Class 1	18
Senior Surveyor	2
Laboratory Technician	49.5
Clerical Officer	1,404.5	10	46	Civ. Ser. Com/Trans. Lists
Senior Serological Assistant	1
Senior Seed Analyst	1
Head Laboratory Attendant	1
Supervising Serological Asst.	8.5
Higher Seed Analyst	2
Visually Impaired Telephonist	5		1	Civ. Ser. Comm.
Dairy Laboratory Assistant	15
Serological Assistant	40.5
Seed Analyst	15
Superintendent of Cleaners	1		1	Internal Promotion
Ship Inspector	24
Total	4,279.5	51	222