I wish to inform the Deputy that there have been no secondments from my Department to the university third level sector over the past two years.
The Department’s secondments follow the guidelines set out by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Secondment Policy for the Civil Service. This was outlined most recently in Circular 27-2021 which sets out the current arrangements for secondments between Civil Service organisations. This Secondment Policy also provides that the same principles may be applied to secondment arrangements between a parent department and a non-civil service body within its sector.