Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 29 Sep 1999

Vol. 508 No. 1

Written Answers. - Local Authority Staff.

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

620 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of full-time planning officers at each grade and assistant grade in each local authority; the population served by each planning authority; and the proposals, if any, he has for redressing any imbalance between local authorities. [18086/99]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey):

It is the responsibility of each local authority to ensure that they have adequate staffing resources to discharge their statutory planning functions.

The most recent survey of local authority plan ning departments, carried out by my Department, showed that overall staffing levels, both administrative and professional, in the larger local authorities, that is, county councils and county borough corporations, had increased to 753 in May 1999 from 660.5 in June 1998. Three hundred and ten of the 753 were professional planners and the following table gives a breakdown as between authorities and the corresponding population figures. However, the information requested on the grades of professional planners in the individual planning authorities is not available in my Department. Generally, the planning functions of the smaller authorities are carried out by the staff of the mainline authorities. Population would not be regarded as a critical criterion for comparing staffing levels between authorities.

In April 1998, my Department wrote to planning authorities asking that they avail of the opportunity presented by planning fee increases, which were effected by new regulations at that time, to consider the possibility of employing more professional planners. My Department again wrote to local authority managers in July 1998 asking that they consider the adequacy of their professional/technical and administrative/ clerical staffing in order to ensure that the planning system does not cause bottlenecks in meeting demand and delivers the best possible service to the customer. The Department has approved all requests for additional professional planners.

County Council	Planners	Population
Carlow	1	41,616
Cavan	2	52,944
Clare	9	94,006
Cork	22	293,323
Donegal	14	129,994
Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown	22	189,999
Fingal	16	167,683
Galway	14.5	131,613
Kerry	10	126,130
Kildare	11	134,992
Kilkenny	9	75,336
Laois	3	52,945
Leitrim	3	25,057
Limerick	4	113,003
Longford	2	30,166
Louth	7	92,166
Mayo	9	111,524
Meath	13	109,732
Monaghan	4	51,313
Offaly	7	59,117
Roscommon	5	51,975
Sligo	3	55,821
Sth. Dublin	19	218,728
Tipperary NR	6	58,021
Tipperary SR	3	75,514
Waterford	6	52,140
Westmeath	6	63,314
Wexford	9	104,371
Wicklow	11	102,683
Corporation	Planners	Population
Cork	5	127,187
Dublin	46	481,854
Galway	3	57,241
Limerick	2	52,039
Waterford	3	42,540