Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 February 2023

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Resumed)

9:30 am

Mr. Kevin McCarthy:

We have approval for more. We have identified a need for up to 100 additional staff who are required on the Ukraine and international protection fronts. We are considering various recruitment strategies to bring those on board.

I will pick up on the Deputy's comments about support from other Departments. We put out calls for staff from other Departments over the course of past year and received positive responses in respect of each of those. A number of staff are on loan to us from other Departments, including key and valuable staff. That is good evidence of the extent to which we have been assisted and supported. It would be unfair to say we are on our own in terms of the management of this crisis. I do not want to let that point go.