Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 October 2013
93. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Student Universal Support Ireland new staff that have been taken on for 2012 and 2013 to work with SUSI what the positions were and where the jobs were advertised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44058/13]
View answerCity of Dublin Education and Training Board (CDETB) is the designated single awarding authority for new student grants in Ireland. SUSI was formally established in early 2012 as a new unit within CDETB and having a staff complement of 65 full time equivalents. This staff complement is variable during the year to match the flows of grant processing work. Staff were assigned to fill these posts in 2012 from four main sources: firstly by deployment of existing staff of CDETB, secondly through redeployment from he public service, thirdly via the temporary clerical panels operated by the Public Appointments Service through public advertising and via its website www.publicjobs.ie and fourthly through a contract with a service provider engaged to provide highly flexible insourced and outsourced staff and support services to SUSI. One post was filled by secondment from the civil service following the circulation by PAS of notices within the civil service.
Two new additional management posts were approved for SUSI in March 2013, one at principal officer level as Head of Operations and one at assistant principal level as Grants Processing Manager. Both posts were filled by the Public Appointments Service (PAS), initially through circulated notices within the civil and public service and subsequently by way of public competition advertised via its website www.publicjobs.ie.
Three further additional management posts at assistant principal level were approved for SUSI in May 2013. Following circulated notices within the civil and public service, these posts remain unfilled following the circulation by PAS of notices of redeployment or secondment opportunities within the civil and public service. As PAS were not in a position to run public competitions within the required timeframes, public competitions were organised for direct recruitment by CDETB. These posts were advertised on the website of CDETB and on the PAS website www.publicjobs.ie and in one national newspaper. 23 additional grants processing and assessing staff were also approved for SUSI in May 2013. These positions were at the clerical officer/grade 3 level and were taken on by way of short term contracts of seasonal employment via the temporary clerical panels operated by the Public Appointments Service through public advertising and via its website www.publicjobs.ie.
