Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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3. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the moratorium in recruitment in the public sector; the areas in which it has been lifted; and any future planned lifting of the moratorium, for example, social workers, maintenance sections of local authorities and so on. [5862/15]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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I raise this issue not only in regard to pay levels being reviewed, but also in the context of the number of people working in certain areas. Many areas have been pared to the bone and a worker can only take that for so long. The first year one does extra hours, puts in the time and does more for less. After two, three or four years, it becomes a burden that is very hard to bear. I know the embargo has been lifted in respect of gardaí, nurses, architects, planners and so on. Dublin City Council, for example, has lost jobs. In 2008, it had 7,500 employees but the number is down to 4,800. That has an impact on areas such as maintenance. A major issue we are coming across every day of the week is the ability of local authorities to maintain their own properties. Is the Minister looking at that angle also? How does he see that developing? Will he lift the moratorium in general?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy will recall that as part of a package of measures presented in the budget in October, I announced an end to the staffing moratorium in the public service. This was made possible by the much welcomed improvement in the public finances last year, which, thankfully, is continuing this year. I considered it appropriate to have a more normalised approach to the management of public service staffing, allowing front-line managers freedom to respond to service needs as they arise.

My Department is currently engaging with all Departments to put in place the necessary administrative and oversight structures and controls that will govern the new arrangements. These will be formalised under delegated sanction which I will soon issue.

The delegated sanction will give Departments greater flexibility in managing staffing resources, including recruitment and promotion. This will be subject to staying within overall pay bill ceilings and it will require a commitment to deliver efficiency and reform objectives we have agreed. The ending of the moratorium does not signal across the board freedom for hiring and recruiting. I do not want to give that illusion. There will still be strict controls - there has to be. We must contain the cost of delivering public services at affordable and sustainable levels. The new approach will do this but it will also allow public services to respond and adapt more quickly to emerging needs.

The Deputy mentioned staffing issues in the area of social workers, in particular. This is not related to the moratorium. Staffing vacancies arise for various reasons and are a normal part of employment but it is fair to say that child protection and welfare is a particularly challenging area of work and involves working closely with some very vulnerable and marginalised people. These challenges mean that recruitment and retention in this area is a key issue across most countries and not only in Ireland. Tusla, the new Child and Family Agency, is currently progressing a number of initiatives to address staff shortage issues. Most importantly, it is continuing to recruit, with 164 social workers recruited since the agency was established and a further 219 social workers being recruited currently.

The Deputy will be aware that during the moratorium, this Government continued to prioritise and make provision for targeted recruitment in key front-line areas. I will not give the figures again but the Deputy knows what I have done in regard to resource teachers and so on.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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Is the Minister saying to line managers in the public service to come to him to say there is a need for jobs to be created in an area, for example the maintenance section in Dublin City Council? The manager there says we need at least ten new apprentices because we cannot deliver to our tenants what is expected of us and cannot maintain properties. Has the Minister sent that message to line managers across local authorities and in the HSE so that they can give him the information he needs to be able to say we need to lift the moratorium and recruit for specific areas of work? I accept the Minister's point about social workers who are being recruited currently. In Leinster House, the service officers being recruited now are earning more money than service officers working here currently. Such issues must be addressed as well as how those injustices can be dealt with.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for her questions. I do not want to give the illusion there is now a free hand to recruit, because there is not. We made very difficult gains by reducing public sector numbers very considerably - by 10% overall. We do not have the capacity to restore all of that. We have looked at delivering systems more efficiently over the past four years.

In terms of the apprentice issue about which the Deputy spoke in Dublin City Council and so on, we had a detailed discussion in Cabinet in the past fortnight on the whole issue of apprentices and a number of initiatives are being taken. The Office of Public Works has opened an initiative to recruit apprentices and I met with the chairperson of the OPW this week to discuss that. SOLAS also has an initiative which will be announced. A number of private sector and public sector companies will take on multiples of apprentices in the future because not everybody will go into an academic environment. There will be a skills shortages as the economy recovers in these areas, so the Deputy makes a very valid point in that regard.

In regard to the devolution, it is not that I will ask line managers to make a case to me. I want to devolve the capacity to them. They will have their budget line and they may want to expend it in a different way. Rather than simply recruiting one person at a fixed rate, I would prefer to have two at a different rate. They will have the flexibility to do that.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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Efficiency is important but how far can one go with efficiency? One can only do so much in an eight or a nine hour day. That is why certain areas are finding that their backs are against the wall. It is really important those areas are addressed, in particular where there is a need to provide services to people, whether through the HSE or the local authorities where there is a need for jobs not only to be created, but to assist work being done properly and efficiency. That is not happening currently. In many areas, it is taking almost a year to get a badly needed window or door into a local authority house. Those are the areas we really need to address.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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One of the things that concerned me about the issue of homelessness was the number of houses and flats, in particular in Dublin, which were void and awaiting essential repairs. That is why I allocated specific funding from the stimulus moneys available to me from the sale of State assets and formally in the budget last year to bring all those voids back into play. More regular maintenance is important to address the issue of homelessness and proper housing accommodation.

We also have an initiative in regard to energy sustainability. As the Deputy knows, we are retrofitting local authority and privately owned houses where the elderly are involved. All of those issues will be, and are being, addressed as we begin to have the capacity to again spend more money. We must cut our cloth according to our measure. We can only provide the staff we have the capacity to pay into the future. We are doing that incrementally and in a way that ensures we have efficiencies and that we are not wasting money in the process.