Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
545. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of councils that have a European Union liaison officer to identify sources of European Union funding and supervise applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42516/22]
View answer670. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide funding for a European Union liaison officer for Kildare County Council to assist the council in identifying and applying for EU funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44163/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 545 and 670 together.
I do not currently have plans or funding available to fund a role of the nature outlined; 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. 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 individual roles in local authorities is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information should be available from each local authority.
