Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 November 2020
169. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of vacancies that exist in the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement; the length of time the vacancies have existed; and the timeframe for filling the positions. [38624/20]
View answerSince his appointment, the current Director has undertaken a significant restructuring of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) to better reflect the organisation’s needs in the context of both its strategic shift towards deploying resources towards more serious indications of wrongdoing and the increasingly complex environment within which the ODCE operates.
Establishing the ODCE as the Corporate Enforcement Authority will give the Director greater autonomy and flexibility in terms of the ability to recruit staff with the necessary skills mix and depth of experience and will provide the Director with greater flexibility to adapt if the workload expands. The Bill is awaiting pre-legislative scrutiny at the Oireachtas Committee and I want to proceed with enactment as soon as possible.
Over recent years, a number of vacancies have arisen within the ODCE through a combination of retirement, promotion and transfer to other parts of the public service. In that context, the skill sets, competencies, roles and responsibilities associated with each vacant post have been reviewed and reconfigured.
The current serving staff complement of the ODCE is 36, excluding Garda resources and the number of vacancies is 6, as follows:
- Two vacant positions at Clerical Officer level, one part time post, vacant since February 2020 just before the public health emergency occurred, for whom a comparative replacement is not yet available and one full time position, vacant since September 2020 which is due to be filled by 30th November 2020.
- One vacant position at Higher Executive Officer level, vacant since January 2020 and for which replacement has been impacted by the current public health emergency. It is expected that this vacancy will be filled by the end of February 2021.
- Three vacancies at Forensic Accountant level, two of which are vacant since May 2019, and one since November 2019, all of which are due to be filled from the current recruitment process which is led by the Public Appointments Service. The recruitment process is being finalised and it is expected that the appointments will be announced shortly.
