Written Answers Nos. 117-126
117. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his last meeting with the strategic communications unit, SCU, and the Secretary General of his Department; and if the recent information campaign in local and national newspapers was discussed. [11817/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have never met the Strategic Communications Unit (SCU). The last time I met the Director of the SCU was at the Project Ireland 2040 event in Cork and Waterford on 9th March 2018. I received a briefing on the broad communications strategy for Project Ireland 2040 at a meeting in December 2017. This meeting was also attended by the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure, the Secretaries General of the Departments of Finance, Public Expenditure & Reform and Taoiseach, the Taoiseach's Chief of Staff and the Director of the SCU.
118. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Taoiseach the number of persons holding Civil Service positions above clerical officer grade in his Department that entered the civil service via a route other than through an open competition run by the Public Appointments Service or its predecessors; the grades of each; and the basis for the non-standard recruitment. [11865/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe majority of civil service positions in my Department above the clerical officer grade are either filled using panels set up by the Public Appointments Service or through secondment arrangements with other civil and public sector bodies.
Exceptions to this would be Special Adviser positions (to which Section 11 of the Public Service Management Act, 1997 applies) and posts filled by way of Excluding Order issued by the Commission for Civil and Public Service Appointments such as the post of Government Press Secretary, Deputy Government Press Secretary, Chief Strategist for the Independent Alliance, Political Coordinator for Independent Ministers in Government, etc.
There are nine Special Advisers employed by my Department: one at Deputy Secretary level; two at Assistant Secretary level; five at Principal Officer level; and one at Assistant Principal Officer (Higher) level.
There are eight positions in my Department which have been filled by way of Excluding Order: one at Assistant Secretary level; four at Principal Officer level; one at Assistant Principal Officer (Higher) level; and two at Higher Executive Officer level.
119. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Taoiseach the directions provided to the payment of staff in the public sector and Civil Service who fall under the direction of his Department for the days during Storm Emma when staff were directed to stay at home; and if deductions in pay and annual leave were made to staff in the public sector or Civil Service as a result of days lost during the storm. [11882/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing the advice issued by the National Emergency Coordination Group on the status red weather warning issued by Met Éireann on 28 February 2018, an email was issued to staff in my Department from the Head of Corporate Affairs to advise them that they should not attend work on Thursday 29 February or Friday 1 March 2018. This advice also applied to staff in the National Economic and Social Development Office - the only body under the aegis of my Department.
A small number of staff attended work on 29 February and 1 March 2018, including those involved in the work of the National Emergency Coordination Group, and staff providing emergency cover in Corporate Affairs Division, Cabinet Secretariat, the Government Press Office, the Strategic Communications Unit and the Taoiseach's Private Office.
No deductions of pay or annual leave were made as a result of the days lost during storm Emma.
121. Deputy James Browne asked the Taoiseach the 35 largest towns in Ireland in order of size; and the populations of these towns. [11430/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Census of Population 2016 publications include a comprehensive report titled Profile 2 – Population, Distribution and Movements which was published on the Central Statistics Office website on 11th May 2017.
For Census 2016, new boundaries for towns were created to replace the former 80 Legal towns, as these boundaries were abolished under the Local Government Reform Act, 2014. The new Census towns are defined as a cluster of at least 50 occupied homes with a maximum distance between them of no more than 100 metres and evidence of an urban centre, such as a shop or school within the cluster, as per the UN settlement criteria.
Towns by Area (sq km), population, gender and density, 2016
|
- |
Towns |
Total population |
Males |
Females |
Area (sq km) |
Population density (persons per sq km) |
|
1 |
Drogheda |
40956 |
19993 |
20963 |
14.8 |
2776.6 |
|
2 |
Swords |
39248 |
19337 |
19911 |
10.4 |
3791.7 |
|
3 |
Dundalk |
39004 |
19137 |
19867 |
23.6 |
1651 |
|
4 |
Bray |
32600 |
15712 |
16888 |
8.1 |
4035.7 |
|
5 |
Navan (An Uaimh) |
30173 |
14754 |
15419 |
12.9 |
2332.8 |
|
6 |
Kilkenny |
26512 |
12923 |
13589 |
12.5 |
2115.9 |
|
7 |
Ennis |
25276 |
12069 |
13207 |
19.6 |
1286.6 |
|
8 |
Carlow |
24272 |
11940 |
12332 |
11.8 |
2063.4 |
|
9 |
Tralee |
23691 |
11376 |
12315 |
18.8 |
1260.6 |
|
10 |
Droichead Nua |
22742 |
11203 |
11539 |
8.8 |
2578.2 |
|
11 |
Portlaoise |
22050 |
11380 |
10670 |
12.1 |
1829.3 |
|
12 |
Naas |
21393 |
10492 |
10901 |
8.3 |
2567.7 |
|
13 |
Athlone |
21349 |
10607 |
10742 |
15.9 |
1338.8 |
|
14 |
Mullingar |
20928 |
10190 |
10738 |
13.3 |
1575 |
|
15 |
Wexford |
20188 |
9784 |
10404 |
20.2 |
998 |
|
16 |
Letterkenny |
19274 |
9375 |
9899 |
15.5 |
1240 |
|
17 |
Sligo |
19199 |
9238 |
9961 |
10.3 |
1858.5 |
|
18 |
Greystones |
18140 |
8799 |
9341 |
8.9 |
2036.6 |
|
19 |
Clonmel |
17140 |
8433 |
8707 |
10.5 |
1636.4 |
|
20 |
Tullamore |
14607 |
7091 |
7516 |
13.3 |
1101.5 |
|
21 |
Killarney |
14504 |
6916 |
7588 |
8.1 |
1796.3 |
|
22 |
Midleton |
12496 |
6101 |
6395 |
7.8 |
1611.6 |
|
23 |
Mallow |
12459 |
6055 |
6404 |
8.2 |
1517.9 |
|
24 |
Castlebar |
12068 |
5789 |
6279 |
7.9 |
1534.8 |
|
25 |
Cavan |
10914 |
5254 |
5660 |
8.2 |
1337.3 |
|
26 |
Ballina |
10171 |
4946 |
5225 |
6.7 |
1508.9 |
|
27 |
Longford |
10008 |
4916 |
5092 |
7.2 |
1387.3 |
|
28 |
Shannon |
9729 |
4829 |
4900 |
7 |
1387.5 |
|
29 |
Tuam |
8767 |
4253 |
4514 |
6.5 |
1354.4 |
|
30 |
Thurles |
7940 |
3821 |
4119 |
6.9 |
1151.3 |
|
31 |
Monaghan |
7678 |
3731 |
3947 |
6.7 |
1146.1 |
|
32 |
Buncrana |
6785 |
3309 |
3476 |
8.3 |
821.9 |
|
33 |
Ballinasloe |
6662 |
3253 |
3409 |
8.6 |
773.8 |
|
34 |
Westport |
6198 |
2936 |
3262 |
7.8 |
798.1 |
|
35 |
Roscommon |
5876 |
2834 |
3042 |
9.1 |
644.8 |
123. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach the number of staff assigned in his Department to the press office, public relations or communications roles in each year since 2015; and the positions by staffing grade and designated role and for each new position when it came into existence. [11984/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraDetails of staff assigned in my Department to the Government Press Office, public relations or communications roles as at 31December in 2015, 2016, 2017 and to date in 2018 are set out in the following tables:
31 December 2015
|
Position/Grade |
No. |
|
|
Government Press Office |
||
|
Politically appointed staff |
||
|
Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Deputy Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Civil servants |
||
|
Press Officer - Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Press Officer- Higher Executive Officer |
3 |
|
|
Press Officer - Administrative Officer |
1 |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
|
Government Information Service/MerrionStreet.ie |
||
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Executive Officer |
4 |
|
|
Economic Division – Communications on Action Plan for Jobs |
||
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Higher Executive Officer |
1 |
|
|
Total |
16 |
31 December 2016
|
Position/Grade |
No. |
|
|
Government Press Office |
||
|
Politically appointed staff |
||
|
Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Deputy Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Civil servants |
||
|
Press Officer - Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Press Officer- Higher Executive Officer |
4 |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
|
Government Information Service/MerrionStreet.ie |
||
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Executive Officer |
2 |
|
|
Executive Officer - vacancy |
2 |
|
|
Economic Division – Communications on Action Plan for Jobs |
||
|
Higher Executive Officer |
1 |
|
|
International, EU & Nth Ireland Division - Communications on Brexit |
||
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Total |
16 |
31 December 2017
|
Position/Grade |
No. |
|
|
Government Press Office |
||
|
Politically appointed staff |
||
|
Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Deputy Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Civil servants |
||
|
Press Officer - Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Press Officer- Higher Executive Officer |
4 |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
|
Strategic Communications Unit |
||
|
Director - Assistant Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Principal Officer |
4 |
|
|
Administrative Officer |
3 |
|
|
Higher Executive Officer |
2 |
|
|
Executive Officer |
2 |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
|
Total |
22 |
21 March 2018
|
Position/Grade |
No. |
|
|
Government Press Office |
||
|
Politically appointed staff |
||
|
Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Deputy Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Government Press Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Civil servants |
||
|
Press Officer - Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
|
Press Officer- Higher Executive Officer |
4 |
|
|
Clerical Officer |
1 |
|
|
Strategic Communications Unit |
||
|
Director - Assistant Secretary |
1 |
|
|
Principal Officer |
1 |
|
|
Assistant Principal Officer |
4 |
|
|
Administrative Officer |
3 |
|
|
Higher Executive Officer |
2 |
|
|
Executive Officer |
4 |
|
|
Total |
24 |
