asked the Taoiseach if he will instruct each Minister and Minister of State to reduce the number of staff working exclusively on constituency matters in their respective offices by two; and if he will ensure that these staff are effectively deployed to areas of the greatest need.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ministerial Staff.
1.
I am satisfied that the numbers of staff working on constituency matters in the offices of Ministers and Ministers of State are the minimum necessary to provide a courteous and efficient service to the members of the public who seek assistance or advice from the Minister concerned. The numbers employed in constituency offices are already below the limits for the staffing of such offices, which were decided upon by the previous Government and applied in a circular letter to all Government Departments on 16 February, 1983.
In the context of my Government's policy on Civil Service staffing, the levels of staffing in Departments and offices are constantly monitored and staff are being redeployed, to the greatest extent possible, to areas of priority.
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Would it not be consistent with his own statements of recent weeks that reductions had to be spread across the board in the Civil Service if all areas of the Civil Service, including constituency offices, suffered reductions in staff? It appears to me that all areas other than constituency offices have had staff reductions. Will the Taoiseach consider staff reductions for these offices as well?
Staffing levels there are kept to a minimum and they are below the level decided. There is an important aspect of parliamentary democracy involved here. If Ministers did not discharge their duties to their constituents as public representatives it would not be too long before we would have a different type of outcry.
Ceist 2, an Teachta Ruairí Quinn.
Can I ask one question?