Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 September 2012
92. Deputy Regina Doherty asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department still grants leave of absence; and if not, the reason this is not considered as a neutral cost saving exercise; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40597/12]
View answerThe Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, like other public bodies, is endeavouring to maintain a high standard of service with diminishing financial and staffing resources. In addition to its normal ongoing functions, the Department currently has to manage an unprecedented conjuncture of major international responsibilities against a background of a 12% reduction in its core personnel complement over the past three years. Ireland’s current Chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has impacted heavily on the workload of staff at headquarters and in many of our Missions abroad, overlaps with the necessary extensive advance preparations for Ireland’s 2013 EU Presidency, which will also considerably increase the demands on the Department. Meeting these challenges requires the maximum possible availability of skilled and experienced staff, particularly at middle management and senior levels. While the Department has been granted some temporary additional posts for the OSCE chairmanship and for the EU Presidency, sourcing sufficient suitably experienced staff has presented major challenges.
Under the relevant Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circular, the operation of the career break scheme is subject to the operating requirements of the Department not being adversely affected. Discretionary release of experienced staff, without the ability to replace them, would have a very negative impact on the Department’s capacity to deliver on its responsibilities in the period leading up to and during the EU Presidency. Accordingly, the Department concluded last January that it simply had no available alternative but to temporarily suspend the career break facility, other than in the most exceptional circumstances. The position will be reviewed at the end of the Presidency in mid-2013 in the light of the Department’s business requirements at that time.
