Vol. 572 No. 5
45 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the number of vacancies which exist in relation to archaeology, heritage and wildlife responsibilities in his Department; the individual responsibilities of each vacancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23634/03]
The authorised staffing complement of my Department, excluding industrial staff, is 1,431 posts and at the end of September my Department was employing the whole time equivalent of 1,365.61 staff. This leaves a total of 65.39 available posts in my Department some of which are in the areas of archaeology, heritage and wildlife.
At any time a proportion of posts may be vacant due to normal turnover of staff and other human resources planning considerations such as the consolidation and restructuring of work in the Department.
Having regard to a Government decision of late 2002 on the reduction in public service numbers, my Department has been requested to provide for a reduction of 72 posts in its authorised staffing complement. This Government decision, with overall administrative budget considerations, will be factors in HR planning decisions relating to the filling of all posts within the Department.
