Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. We have had this discussion with regard to regional disparity and it is a fact, but it is not possible to resolve that overnight. If, for historic reasons, there are different structural bases for local authorities and the way they approach staff development has been quite different over the decades, it will not be undone overnight.

One of the key issues is flexibility at local level and key managers need to be able to deploy staff where they are needed. During the down times, obviously we did not need to have huge planning departments, but as they increase we need to be able to redeploy people back into them. That flexibility is required at ground level.

We have all gone into workplaces - be they hospitals, health centres or local government sections - where some areas are run ragged while others are under no pressure at all. Therefore, we need to have the flexibility and management skills to ensure that staff are always deployed to the greatest pressure points.

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