Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
439. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the responsibilities of the Director of Services for Ukrainian refugees (details supplied) within local authorities; and if he will provide a breakdown in tabular form of the local authorities who have appointed someone to this role. [37730/22]
View answerSupporting the response to the Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis is being treated as a key priority for local authorities. In April, I wrote to each Chief Executive to ask them to identify a lead Director of Service or equivalent level who could be dedicated to co-ordinating the local response on a full-time basis supported by a temporary support team to:
- work as part of the Community Response Forum reporting to the Chief Executive;
- lead the co-ordination of the provision of supports and services to Ukrainians at a local level by the range of public and not-profit bodies involved;
- identify gaps or any inefficiencies in service delivery and seek to address them locally with the bodies involved and, where necessary, escalate issues that cannot be resolved locally to national level for resolution;
- provide support on related issues that may arise including any matters specific to supporting the State’s response to the Ukraine crisis.
It is envisaged that the team will be required initially for 6 months and this duration will be kept under review.
The nature of the response required by local authorities in meeting the Ukrainian crisis means that local authorities are operating in a constantly evolving environment. It is a matter for each Chief Executive to decide the appropriate grade composition of the temporary support team.
Where a local authority identifies the need for an additional Director of Service to deal with the Ukrainian crisis, a staff sanction request needs to be submitted to my Department. Following the approval of a staffing sanction request it is then a matter for the Chief Executive, who is responsible under Section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001 for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible, to progress the appointment as appropriate.
My Department has currently received and approved sanction requests for an additional temporary seven Directors of Service, the local authorities are detailed in the table below.
|
Local Authority |
|
Galway County Council |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
|
Laois County Council |
|
Longford County Council |
|
Louth County Council |
|
Roscommon County Council |
|
Westmeath County Council |
In some cases, it is not always the most efficient approach to seek to recruit, given the process involved and the challenge of finding the specific skills set required. Other local authorities have, therefore, assigned the role to existing Directors of Service, based on where those appropriate skill sets and experience are available, acknowledging the complexity of the issues involved.
