John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Heritage officers can make a major contribution in promoting tourism activities in the local authority area. On every occasion that I launched a book when members of the Heritage Council were present I stated that it is my strongly held view that we should have heritage officers in each local authority area. That is not the case. However, where they are in place it has made a tremendous difference. In 1999, at the inception of the heritage officer programme the number of heritage officers employed was only three. After five years the number had risen to 25 and the number of heritage officers reached its peak in 2008 with the employment of 28 heritage officers. It has remained at that level since then. Since the introduction in March of the general moratorium on the filling of public sector posts in local authorities, the level of employment in the sector has decreased. However, the number of heritage officers employed has remained at its peak of 28.

Recently, the Department of Finance approved a delegated sanction to my Department for implementation of the general moratorium on condition that the overall staffing levels in the local authority sector are to be reduced significantly by the end of 2010 in adherence with the Government's policy on staffing and numbers in the public sector. When I have been contacted about these issues I have made it very clear that it is very important to keep in place heritage and conservation officers because I consider the job they do to be vital.

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