The various agencies, which fall under the remit of my Department, submit regular reports and returns to my Department regarding staffing, expenditure and related business matters. These are reviewed by my Department and, where a particular agency raises a concern relating to how their staffing may impinge on their ability to deliver, the merits of the case outlined is examined in the context of the agency's commitments set out in various strategic documents including the current Programme for Government, the Public Service (Croke Park) Action Plans, Transforming Public Service initiatives etc.
With regard to the non-commercial agencies reporting to my Department both the Croke Park agreement and the Employment Control Framework for staffing requires those agencies to achieve very substantial cost and staffing efficiencies and I expect them to identify the best means of achieving these. In the case of commercial State agencies, while I have no direct function in relation to their day-to-day functioning, I equally expect that in the current economic market realities they too will seek the maximum cost and staffing efficiencies.