Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 18 January 2024
Public Accounts Committee
Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 37 - Social Protection
Social Insurance Fund 2022
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 13 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 14 - Ex gratia Payments of €1.4 million to Social Welfare Branch Managers
Chapter 15 - Raising Social Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 16 - Recovery of Welfare Overpayments
Chapter 17 - Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund
9:30 am
Mr. John McKeon:
Yes, we are filling them but it is challenging to get staff with the process and the churn. We have quite a lot of staff as will be seen in the report. Our accounts show quite a lot of staff earning acting-up allowances because of the time it takes. It is taking 12 to 18 weeks to fill a vacancy at the moment because of the labour market situation and that is one of the reasons we were delighted to get 140 Ukrainians, to be honest.