Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are trying to reduce the total number in the public service and Civil Service. Any incoming chief executive charged with bringing together two or three VECs with different systems and, in some cases, slightly different cultures will make use of all available talent. It is a managerial function with which the Department does not want to become involved. We have had to resolve the issue of having 20 permanent chief executives for 16 slots and a mechanism was found to do this, although it is not a complete process. Two people are not yet satisfied with where they are and we are working to resolve the problem. Across the public sector we are trying to do more with less, and people with additional experience and talent - even if at the level of school principal - will be deployed effectively by a prudent CEO.