Vol. 572 No. 5
171 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the minimum educational requirements for recruitment to the grade of assistant staff officer in a local authority; the reason candidates who hold national certificates and diplomas from HETAC are not eligible to apply for posts of assistant staff officer; his plans to review the educational qualifications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23621/03]
The educational qualifications declared for the post of assistant staff officer in a local authority require candidates to: (i) (a) have obtained at least grade D, in higher or ordinary level, in five subjects – four subjects if Irish is included – from the approved list of subjects in the Department of Education and Science established leaving certificate examination or the leaving certificate vocational programme including Irish and, or, English and one of the following: mathematics, accounting, business organisation or economics; and (b) have obtained at least grade C in higher level papers in three subjects in that examination – two subjects if Irish and, or, one of the following is included: mathematics, accounting, business organisation or economics, or (ii) have obtained a comparable standard in an equivalent examination, or (iii) hold a third level qualification of at least degree standard.
Holders of qualifications referred to in the question are not precluded from applying for assistant staff officer posts. It is a matter for the employing authority to determine whether the particular educational qualifications held by an individual candidate satisfy the above requirements. There are no proposals at present to review the educational qualifications for assistant staff officer posts.
