Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
771. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide funding for the employment of a domestic violence officer in Kildare County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41564/22]
View answer772. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will fund the employment of a community energy advisor in Kildare County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41565/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 771 and 772 together.
Local authorities are entirely independent corporate entities having full responsibility under law for the performance of their functions and the discharge of their governance and other responsibilities. 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 authority for which he or she is responsible.
I do not have functional responsibility for matters concerning domestic violence or energy. The locus of responsibility or accountability at central level is determined by the nature of the particular issue or activity involved, not by the fact that it involves a local authority role per se.
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 information sought is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information would be available from individual local authorities.
