Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
1981. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of unfilled vacancies in his Department; the time these vacancies have been open from when the roles were first advertised to date for each vacancy or group of vacancies; the number of unfilled vacancies in each agency under his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34674/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to ensuring that a highly skilled, motivated and efficient workforce is in place to meet on-going business needs and avails of Workforce planning to identify and assess its business needs.
Workforce planning is a key tool in enabling my Department to forecast its current and future staffing needs. As a management function, it drives the full range of HR activities including recruitment, deployment, performance, learning and development. Workforce Planning aims to ensure a long-term, proactive and strategic plan by which my Department achieves the right level of talent in each location and Division, at the right time. All posts are filled in the context of my Department's constantly evolving business needs.
I can confirm that during 2017 a total of 484 posts were filled in my Department and a total of 201 posts have been filled to date in 2018 in areas prioritised for the assignment of resources. These posts were filled on foot of competitions run by the Public Appointments Service and my Department's Human Resources Division in accordance with the recruitment principles of the Commission for Public Service Appointments. The timescale for competitions can vary, depending on the recruitment process to be undertaken and the number of applicants. In addition, many competitions result in the setting up of panels for appointment over a period of time, which may give rise to elapses in time between the initial advertisement and the filling of individual posts.
My Department operates in a rapidly changing environment and its structure must facilitate the flexibility to deploy resources as the need arises.
The question of filling posts within the State Agencies under the aegis of my Department is an operational matter for each Agency.
