Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The number of staff employed by my Department on 1 October 2008 is 1,545. This includes 320 permanent staff who are working in the Passport Office in Ireland and approximately 300 local staff currently employed at missions abroad. The equivalent figure as of 1 January 2000 was 1,385. The increase of 160 staff during the intervening period was focused on two main areas: the Passport Office and Ireland's development aid programme, Irish Aid.

In the case of the Passport Office, a total of 120 additional staff were recruited since 2006 in response to significant annual increases in the demand for passports over recent years and the introduction of the new e-passport, featuring a biometric chip. This increase in the permanent staff enabled the Passport Office to maintain a high level of customer service while also significantly reducing the number of temporary clerical staff engaged in the lead up to and during the busy summer period, as well as its reliance on overtime during this peak season.

The recruitment of additional staff for Irish Aid was directly related to the rapid expansion in the scale and scope of the development assistance programme which has seen the aid budget increase from €255 million in 2000 to €769 million in 2008.

It should also be noted that, since 2000, my Department has overseen the opening of 19 new missions overseas. These included embassies in the capitals of nine member states who have joined the European Union since 2004 and four missions linked to the expansion of the aid programme. The establishment of these new missions was achieved in large measure from within existing staffing resources.

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