Donal Carey
Ceist:42 Mr. D. Carey asked the Minister for Finance the Government's policy on the employment of extra staff by the Revenue Commissioners. [19587/98]
Written Answers. - Revenue Commissioners Staff.
The Revenue Commissioners are free, at present, to recruit over 100 staff to bring their numbers up to the level approved by the Government. Since 1996 the numbers employed in all Government Departments and Offices has been regulated by guidelines approved by successive Governments which set ceilings on the numbers employed in the Civil Service as a whole and in individual Departments and Offices. The current agreed staffing target for the Revenue Commissioners is 6,044. It is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners in common with the management of each Government Department or Office, to deploy staff within these guidelines in accordance with their own priorities. Modifications to the staffing target for individual Departments or Offices may be considered from time to time where it can be demonstrated that essential and urgent tasks cannot otherwise be completed and where the Department or Office have exhausted the possibility of meeting these needs by redeployment of existing resources or modification of work practices.