James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I do not have a specific answer on the need for approval by a Department in regard to extending panels or hiring specific staff, but I will bring that to the attention of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and endeavour to get an answer for the Deputy.

I will finish with an important point which, bearing in mind the concerns raised, puts the situation into context. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has presented challenges to local authorities in respect of the delivery of services, in recent weeks, in line with trends among the general population, local authorities have experienced heightened disruption due to the transmissibility of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, meaning that a number of staff were unavailable for work. With the ongoing return to the Galway City Council workforce of staff affected by Covid-19 and new staff taking up duty in the impacted departments of the council shortly, the temporary disruption to two services out of the significant range of services provided by the council will be resolved in the coming days.

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