Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These amendments address section 31AA and section 31AC of the Bill and will provide that the staff will be civil servants in the Civil Service of the State. Having examined the matter further since the Bill was initiated, it is clear that there are likely savings to be made through the use of shared services for areas such as payroll, human resources and IT, which can be accessed if the office of the planning regulator staff are employed as civil servants. Providing that the staff of the office shall be civil servants will also enable speedier recruitment of staff through the Public Appointments Service and access to panels from open competitions, as well as ease of staff secondment in the initial phases of the set-up, which will facilitate getting the office up and running in a shorter timeframe. This amendment does not affect the independence of the regulator, which is already clearly provided for in section 31R.

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