Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Last August when the DPP published his annual report, he stated that his office was struggling to provide advice to the Government on major legal issues, including proposed legislation, due to staff shortages. He raised the necessity of a fully resourced prosecution policy unit to cope with the increase in prosecution work that would be required.

Will the filling of the vacancies described in the Taoiseach's reply to Deputy Ó Caoláin and the vacancies under discussion between the DPP and the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Finance be sufficient to meet the full staffing requirement of the DPP's office? Will the Taoiseach assure the House that prosecutions will not be delayed as a result of staff shortages in the DPP's office?

When these questions were answered by the Taoiseach earlier this year, he told the House that there were 14.5 vacancies in the Chief State Solicitor's office. Have they been filled?

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