Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2018
305. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the number of persons by Civil Service grade working in the employment permits section of her Department in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018; and the annual funding allocation to the employment permits section in 2019. [52845/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn answer to the question posed by the Deputy the number of persons by civil service grade working in the Employment Permits Section of my Department in each of the years 2014 to 2017 and to date in 2018 is set out below in tabular form.
|
To date |
2018 |
End |
2017 |
End |
2016 |
End |
2015 |
End |
2014 |
|
|
Grade |
Head Count |
*FTE |
Head Count |
*FTE |
Head Count |
*FTE |
Head Count |
*FTE |
Head Count |
*FTE |
|
Principal Officer |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
AP |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
HEO |
3 |
2.5 |
3 |
2.5 |
2 |
1.9 |
3 |
2.5 |
2 |
1.5 |
|
EO |
8 |
7.5 |
9 |
8 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
|
SO** |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
3 |
|
CO |
24 (+2***) |
24.1 |
23 |
21.3 |
17 |
16.8 |
12 |
11.6 |
14 |
13.1 |
|
Total |
36 (+2***) |
36.1 |
37 |
33.8 |
29 |
27.7 |
25 |
23.1 |
26 |
23.6 |
* Full time equivalent
** The Staff Officer grade was amalgamated with the Executive Officer in January 2017.
*** Vacancies which will be filled on 7th January 2019.
Staffing resources are an ongoing priority to ensure my Department’s continued ability to facilitate the wide mission and volume of work in a range of challenging areas. This will continue with ongoing day-to-day review of the appropriate staffing across my Department in response to known and priority areas.
The demand for Employment Permits has increased significantly as the economy has improved and the unemployment rate has decreased. There are currently two recent vacancies in Employment Permits which will be filled in early January 2019. In addition, through the Workforce Planning Process and taking into consideration the current increase in applications and further increases forecast for 2019, the requirement for a further three Clerical Officer posts has been identified to address the increase in applications. This will forecast the total Clerical Officer complement to 29 and the overall staff number to 41 during 2019. My Department is in the process of recruiting these three additional Clerical Officers from the Public Appointments Service. The staffing levels will continue to be reviewed regularly throughout 2019.
The Employment Permits section is funded through the Administration budget for the Department. The overall Administration budget for 2019 has been agreed at €38.035 million. I have estimated that the Employment Permit section will require approximately €1.6 million in funding in 2019 (this would include all pay and non-pay costs).
