Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 February 2012
707 Deputy Seán Kenny asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of requests received from the National Transport Authority requesting permission to employ additional staff for the years 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012; the number of requests that have been approved; the number that are currently pending; the number that have been refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9701/12]
View answerThe National Transport Authority (NTA) was established in December 2009 at a time when constraints on staff resources were already of paramount importance. Upon the assimilation of the Commission for Taxi Regulation into the NTA on 1 January 2011, the NTA consolidated corporate affairs and finance functions across the organisation and reduced outsourced contracts in accounting, HR, communications and procurement.
In the context of the Employment Control Framework and the moratorium on filling staff vacancies the NTA made one request to my Department during 2011 to fill specific vacancies required to retain key skills within the authority. Following submission of a detailed business case to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanction was obtained to retain 3 transport modelling posts for so long as the specialist work they are involved in forms part of the workload of the NTA.
Department staff currently on assignment to the authority will transfer back to the Department during 2012 and a strategy for replacement of the staff by redeployment from other areas of the public service is at present being developed.
