Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The reply refers to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. Some 16 additional staff were approved for the Office of the Chief State Solicitor in January 2007. The office has an authorised staff level of 249 full-time equivalents. There was a suggestion that some 18 contract staff at the Office of the Chief State Solicitor were to lose their jobs because of the moratorium. However, the Office of the Chief State Solicitor has been in contact with the Department of Finance about extending these contracts. The Department agreed that 16 of them can be extended for varying periods to allow the office to achieve staff reductions and manage its workload on a phased basis. Consideration of any further requests for an extension of contracts will be based on the situation that exists at that time.

With regard to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, a review of staffing took place in 2006. Arising from that review, 28 extra posts were approved for the office, bringing its staffing complement to 106. The office currently has a serving staff complement of 197, which will rise to 198 shortly when a person already appointed to a vacant post takes up duty.

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