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Departmental Staff Redeployment

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2012

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Questions (164)

Finian McGrath

Question:

164. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of officials by grade in his Department that will be working solely on the Presidency for the remainder of 2012; if redeployment or promotion has occurred; if they will be paid any additional allowances or pay; the way these officials were selected; if the selection procedure gave rise to any complaints; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50025/12]

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Written answers

My Department was given a temporary reprieve for 2012 and 2013 from the impact of the Government’s Employment Control Framework and was also allocated 50 temporary additional posts by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in order to enable it to plan and fulfil its EU Presidency responsibilities and activities in the first half of next year. Most of the temporary additional staff required by the Department for the Presidency are now in situ and have been assigned as appropriate. At headquarters, eight staff have been redeployed to my Department from other Government Departments and Offices to which they are scheduled to return in summer 2013 – 4 Assistant Principal Officers, 3 Higher Executive Officers and one Clerical Officer. Ten Administrative Officers and 8 Clerical Officers have also been recruited on fixed-term contracts through the Public Appointments Service and 8 Interns were recruited on the same basis directly by the Department. One retired officer has been temporarily re-engaged until July 2013.

As regards Missions broad, the majority of Presidency-related posts have been assigned to the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels, with smaller numbers allocated to other Missions including the Permanent Missions to the UN in New York and Geneva and those to the OSCE, the IAEA and a number of smaller international organisations in Vienna. The Presidency staffing plan for the Permanent Representation in Brussels was prepared following a carefully coordinated inter-departmental needs evaluation. Overall, the staffing of the Permanent Representation has been temporarily increased by 80 officers in various grades, the majority of whom have been assigned by other Departments and Offices at their own expense and from within their own staffing resources, with some 30 administrative and clerical staff temporarily locally recruited.

The additional staff assigned to the Department for the Presidency are directly engaged in Presidency-related activities in most cases, although most also have other duties and some have been assigned to positions vacated by experienced officers redeployed to Presidency roles. Presidency responsibilities will also impact in varying degrees on the work of a number of the core staff of my Department at home and abroad. Temporary promotions or acting-up allowances have not been a feature of the staffing arrangements for this Presidency. The Department is not aware of any complaints relating to the selection procedures.

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