Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 Nov 2000

Vol. 526 No. 6

Written Answers. - Local Authority Staff.

Jack Wall

Ceist:

314 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of vacancies for planning officials in each local authority; his efforts to rectify the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27457/00]

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

My Department does not compile, on a systematic basis, information on the numbers of vacancies in planning, or any other type of posts in the local authorities. However, the most recent survey of the larger local authority planning departments, namely, county councils and county borough corporations, carried out by my Department on 16 October 2000 found that the overall number of serving staff, both administrative and professional, had increased to 1,066, which compared to a figure of 894.5 in September 1999 and a figure of 994 recorded in July 2000. In relation to professional planners specifically, the October survey found that there was a total of 404 authorised posts for professional planners, 103 of which were vacant at that time. Details of the results of the October survey are set out in the attached table, including details of the vacancies for professional planners in each of the planning authorities. My Department does not have information on vacancies for other categories of staff in the planning authorities.

A number of measures have been taken to increase the number of professional planners in the planning system. My Department has written to planning authorities on a number of occasions asking that they consider the adequacy of their staffing to ensure that the planning system does not cause bottlenecks in meeting demand and delivers the best possible service to the customer.

Further measures have been taken to increase the capacity of the planning system and the number of planners. Following on from the publication of Action on Housing in June of this year I made the Local Government (Planning and Development) Regulations, 2000, which increased the size of exempted domestic extensions from 23 square metres to 40 square metres. This was designed to remove about 30% of planning applications for such extensions from the planning system in major urban areas, to allow planners to concentrate on more complex applications and forward planning issues.

I have been in contact with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science and the third level education sector with a view to identifying ways of producing more planners through the education system. As a result, from September of this year new and expanded courses in University College Dublin and Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, will treble the output of graduate planners in two years time to approximately 75 planners graduating per annum. Further additional courses are also under consideration.

In the interim, to meet the short-term demand, the possibility of employing planners from abroad on fixed term contracts is being examined. In this regard, my Department is exploring with FÁS the potential to secure planners from abroad through the FÁS Jobs Ireland campaign. As well as jobs fairs in other EU member states and locations such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the campaign also involves the use of the FÁS Jobs Ireland website. My Department will also pursue with the local authorities and the Local Government Computer Services Board the use of information technology to streamline planning procedures.

Survey of planning authorities in relation to planning staff carried out by the Department of the Environment and Local Government on 16 October 2000.

Planning Authority	AuthorisedPlanners(Permanent)	AuthorisedPlanners(Temporary)	Vacancies(Permanent)	Vacancies(Temporary)	Engineersservingin PlanningDepartment	Techniciansserving inPlanningDepartment	Otherprofessionalsserving inPlanningDepartment	AdministrativeStaff servingin PlanningDepartment
County Council
Carlow	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	6.5
Cavan	4	0	0	0	1	1	0	8
Clare	14	0	5	0	1	3	1	19
Cork	29	3	15	0	2	4	2	60
Donegal	18	0	12	0	0	0	0	21
Dún LaoghaireRathdown	17	5	5	3	0	8	3	36
Fingal	25	3	6	0	0	8	4	41
Galway	10	3	1	0	7	6	3	23
Kerry	10	1	2	0	3	2	0	18
Kildare	7	8	2	0	0	4	4	21
Kilkenny	6	0	3	0	4	1	0	8
Laois	5	0	2	0	0	2	0.5	6
Leitrim	3	2	0	0	1	1	0	6
Limerick	8	1	1	0	3	7	1	14
Longford	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	6
Louth	7	0	2	0	0	2	0.5	6
Mayo	10	0	1	0	0	1	1	13
Meath	11	0	3	0	2	1	0.5	20
Monaghan	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	8
Offaly	6	1	1	0	0	4	0	8.5
Roscommon	4	1	4	1	0	1	0	7
Sligo	5	0	0	0	0	2	0	7
South Dublin	16	3	0	0	3	6	1	38
Tipperary NR	5	0	2	0	1	1	1	8.5
Tipperary SR	12	1	5	0	0	6	0	34
Waterford	3	2	0	0	2	1	0	8
Westmeath	7	2	0	0	2	1	0	8
Wexford	10	0	2	0	2	4	0	15
Wicklow	6	5	5	0	2	1	2	12
Sub-total	269	49	81	4	36	80	25.5	486.5
County Boroughs
Cork Corp.	10	8	4	0	0	4	3	13
Dublin Corp.	56	0	13	0	0	11	9	69
Galway Corp.	6	0	0	0	0	3	0	10
Limerick Corp.	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	9
Waterford Corp.	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	3
Sub-total	78	8	18	0	0	20	13	104
Total	347	57	99	4	36	100	34.5	590.5