Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy said, additional pay was secured in the Revised Estimates, which was very welcome. That allowed IDA Ireland to increase its staff cohort for specific posts. Seven of the posts have been filled to date and the process relating to the remaining three is well under way. In addition, we recently secured sanction from the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to sustain a further 35 posts to assist IDA Ireland to continue its Winning Abroad programme beyond the initially sanctioned three-year term. Those 35 people have already been recruited and are working and they will be able to continue their work. That will be reflected in our new Estimate. I have been keen to track that to make sure the people were in place.

Of the 39 sanctioned Brexit-related posts for Enterprise Ireland, 28 have been filled to date and recruitment is ongoing for the remaining 11. It is expected that four of those staff will be recruited by the end of October and seven by the end of the year. I had a discussion with both organisations. They have a very active process to fill the jobs but it can be difficult sometimes to recruit. They have the funding and they expect to have the vacancies filled by the end of the year.