Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 June 2019
75. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Finance if the Revenue Commissioners have hired additional staff in order to deal with work associated with preparing for Brexit; if additional staff will be hired; the number that will be hired in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27028/19]
View answerI am informed by Revenue that since the start of 2019, Revenue has appointed over 550 staff from open recruitment and interdepartmental competitions, the majority of these have been assigned to customs roles or to backfill positions from which existing Revenue staff have been assigned to customs duties. As serving staff take up their new Brexit-related roles, Revenue is back-filling the vacancies created, from panels established in its general recruitment activity. Additional staff recruited in preparation for Brexit are deployed across a number of functions with approximately half on import and export trade facilitation activities. To date, Revenue has trained over 450 staff in preparation for Brexit.
The impact of the time extension for the UK's withdrawal from the EU will be assessed by Revenue having regard to the resources, infrastructure and trade engagement including additional recruitment and training requirements. This will include consideration of any additional resources that might be required in Donegal. Revenue is an integrated tax and customs administration and their deployment of staff is agile and responsive to business demands and risk.
