Clare Daly
Question:105. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government if he is satisfied with the level of staffing in housing departments in local authorities. [16334/19]
View answerTuesday, 9 April 2019
Questions (105)
Written answers
Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible.
From my extensive engagement with local authorities on housing matters, I am satisfied that Chief Executives are committed to ensuring that their Housing Departments have access to sufficiently increased resources, commensurate with the priority attaching to making significant progress on housing and my Department has put in place a range of supports for local authorities in that regard.
Since 1 January 2015, my Department has received 941 housing-related staff sanction requests from local authorities in relation to filling vacant/additional posts, of which 923 have been approved, with 18 pending. The annual breakdown is set out in the table below. In most cases, the posts that are pending, are awaiting supporting information prior to a final decision being taken.
|
Year |
Number of posts approved |
|
2015 |
400 |
|
2016 |
139 |
|
2017 |
127 |
|
2018 |
205 |
|
2019 |
52 |
|
Total |
923 |