Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2021
311. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the local authorities that employ or do not employ climate action officers; if there is a standardisation of these roles and responsibilities across local authorities in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44764/20]
View answerUnder 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 authority for which he or she is responsible.
My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis. However, granular data, in terms of the detailed breakdown of the local authorities who employ or do not employ Climate Action Officers is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information would be available from individual local authorities.
There is no national declared qualification for the position of Climate Action Officer.
