Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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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.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am not sure which Department the Minister of State is representing.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I am representing the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Perhaps the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform should be here. There is something seriously wrong when we get an answer that they have not increased or decreased the property tax. That is an unacceptable answer. What we have is management, the CEO, who is on a substantial salary, and the director telling us they need approval if they are going to take on new staff. There is a simple and straight answer to that. If the Minister of State is not able to give it, he should just tell us that.

When I get an answer like this, I point out that I spent 17 years on the council and know exactly what powers local authorities have. We have a city manager saying the city council does not have the approval of the Department, or at least the director of services is saying that. We then have a practical matter like a panel for general operatives that was not extended so we could have avoided this break in service. One of the answers given was that they need the approval of the Department even for an addition to the employment of general operatives. I find that very hard to accept because I understand it is only above a certain grade and a certain salary that they need the approval of the Department. Will the Minister of State clarify that for me tonight? Does the city council need the approval of either Department in regard to extending a panel for general operatives so there is no gap in services or taking on extra general operatives or both? Does that need the approval of the Department?

Generally, does the Minister of State think it is acceptable for a city like Galway, destined to be the city on the western side that will balance the development of Dublin, which is out of control, to be struggling to provide basic services, something as basic as the collection of a bulky service which the people of Galway have come to use and trust? Is that acceptable? How are we going to tease this out? We have this presentation from the management in regard to the amount of duties and obligations they have and the staff they need. We then have an answer like this from the Department. Something is seriously amiss.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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.