Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, for standing in, although I am not sure why the relevant Minister is not here.

This is a serious issue in regard to Galway city, a city that has been designated as one of the five cities to grow its population by 50%, yet here am I, raising the matter as a Topical Issue to draw attention to the crisis in Galway. We know from councillors’ reports and from press reports that there is a staff crisis. That staff crisis seems to have arisen for a number of reasons. First, there is a legacy issue and, second, there seems to be a cap, although it is difficult to actually work out whether the problem is with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform setting a cap. Then, there seem to be management issues in regard to not extending a temporary panel.

The upshot is that we now have a situation where there is over a 10% vacancy rate in a city that has a budget of €103 million and serious plans. All councillors in the area received a presentation lately, Regenerating Galway city up to 2030, which I have with me. It sets out ambitious plans for public and private development of up to €4 billion, yet we cannot continue a service that was brilliant at collecting bulky services at a time when bringing people on board is extremely important.

Galway people have always shown the way. What do management in Galway do in a crisis? They cut the bulky service and they cut the sweeping of the city. I do not know where the problem is. I have tried to find out and I was there myself for a long time. It seems to me that, with a budget of €103 million in a city that is growing all the time, there is something seriously wrong where we have a paper report telling us this. The director of services said the council had an over-dependency on the contract system because that was the only option, but they are trying to get the Department to agree to a new headcount. He said they are having difficulty engaging with the Department and that they have been talking to them for a year and a half. I presume that is both Departments or is it just the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform? The chief executive said cuts to services were temporary and that they were in the process of recruiting general operatives.

With regard to general operatives, which must be the easiest part of the solution, there was a panel. Towards the end of January, that panel was not renewed and the general operatives who were on temporary contracts were let go. Rather than extending the panel for a particular period until we got permanent general operatives, the wise management let them go and decided to have a gap in service.

I could go on but I will not. I hope the Minister of State has a response that makes some sense as to where the solution to this problem is and the role of both Departments, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

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