Waterways Ireland is a North-South body, under the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999, overseen by the North South Ministerial Council and sponsored jointly by my Department and the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
Last year, Waterways Ireland submitted a business case arising from a recently-completed job-evaluation exercise to my Department as sponsor, seeking approval to progress the matter referred to in the Question. This evaluation had required face to face meetings with staff in a range of locations, and as such final completion of the exercise had been delayed for a period due to Covid-19.
My Department referred the matter to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform who will make the final determination. My Department and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform are in continual contact and working actively to ensure the case is progressed to a decision as expeditiously as possible.