Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have responsibility under the Public Service Management Acts for recruitment to the Civil Service. I have no responsibility for recruitment in various other branches of the wider public service, however, which are assigned to the relevant Minister. The Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 sets out that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage is responsible for all matters relating to recruitment to local authorities.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the local government sector remains vibrant and sustainable and is well equipped and properly resourced to deliver the key functions within its remit. I am informed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that the local government sector is embarking on a significant expansion of activities across a range of areas, including active travel and town centre first, both of which are programme for Government commitments and depend on a level of local authority input to deliver.

Where a new programme initiative is proposed that requires implementation at local authority level, the initiative will be brought by the relevant Department to the County and City Managers Association, CCMA, for discussion and agreement, particularly with regard to the number, grade and funding of staff required to deliver the programme.

In the case of active travel, which was brought before the CCMA, the National Transport Authority, NTA, developed a categorisation system with indicative staffing resource requirements across all local authorities as well as increases in dedicated active travel resources within the regional design offices. The NTA identified the appropriate analogous grades to deliver the significantly increased programme of active travel infrastructure and the local authorities are resourcing the programme as required.

The town centre first policy, which was launched in February, provides a co-ordinated, whole-of-government policy framework to proactively address the decline in the health of towns across Ireland and support measures to regenerate and revitalise them. Under the policy, it is proposed to appoint a town regeneration officer in local authorities to support the implementation of town centre first and work with local town teams drawn from the local community. The Department of Rural and Community Development, which is funding these posts, is currently in discussions with the CCMA to finalise the specifics of the role based on the programme of work to be delivered.

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