James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the important issue of staff shortages in Galway City Council which have led to the cancellation of some essential services in the city. I would like to clarify that under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, the chief executive is responsible for staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority. I am aware that Galway City Council has some current staffing gaps which have been exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 Omicron variant. However, the number of staff unavailable due to Covid-19 is reducing. In addition, there are other staffing gaps deriving from the natural rotation of staff. I understand that active recruitment is ongoing, with a view to filling the immediate gaps in the next two weeks.

With regard to staffing numbers generally, Galway City Council staff numbers reached their lowest level at 418.5 full-time equivalents in 2015 and, since that time, there has been a managed upward trend, reaching 504.4 full-time equivalents by the end of 2020. There will continue to be gradual increases in staff numbers over the next few years to reflect the new skills required within the sector.

Local authorities will be undertaking a new strategic workforce planning exercise, which will focus on strategic priorities, deployment of current staff to deliver key priorities and the identification of skills gaps going forward which will be required to meet the strategic priorities. An ambitious local authority people strategy was launched in 2018 and sets the strategic human resources agenda for the period 2019 to 2024.

Across all schemes and funding sources, my Department provided €57.2 million in 2019 and €82 million in 2020 to Galway city. The increase year on year is due to the Covid support provided to the local government sector since the start of the pandemic. The allocation to Galway City Council from local property tax, LPT, for 2022 is €6.7 million, of which €4.3 million is for the authority's own discretionary purposes, with the remainder used to fund the provision of housing services in the city. It is relevant in this context that the elected members of Galway City Council have had the option over the past eight years to increase the LPT rate if additional income is necessary. As with all budgetary matters, such decisions are reserved functions of councillors. In that time, Galway city has never applied any local variation to the LPT rate.

As has been the case since the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, my Department will continue to engage regularly and constructively with the local government sector and with individual local authorities on the impacts of the pandemic.

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