Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 123: To ask the Minister for Transport the number of vacant civil servant or public servant positions in his Department on 1 October 2009, and in the State bodies or organisations answerable to him; the grade and the average duration of the vacancies; and if an application has been made to have these positions exempted from the public service recruitment and promotions embargo. [35044/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The current authorised complement of staff in my Department is 550. This is subject to a review by the Department of Finance in response to the Report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes. Based on the existing authorised complement there are 18.42 vacancies in my Department. Vacancies have arisen on a staggered basis since the moratorium on promotion and recruitment was introduced on 27 March 2009. Further vacancies will arise following the departure of staff whose applications for early retirement or career break have been approved. As the closing date for the early retirement scheme has been extended to 16 October 2009, further applications may be received.

Of the positions that are now vacant and those that are expected to fall vacant, sanction has been sought from the Department of Finance for an exception to the moratorium in respect of 1 Assistant Secretary and 2 Principal Officer posts. The Department has also requested approval for some of the potential vacancies arising at Principal Officer level to be filled by redeployment. With regard to the State bodies under the aegis of my Department I should first of all state that the moratorium does not apply to commercial bodies. For the non-commercial State bodies the latest information provided to my Department suggests that the position in relation to vacancies is as follows: National Roads Authority – 5 vacancies Railway Safety Commission – 2 vacancies Medical Bureau of Road Safety – 2 vacancies.

No application has been made to date for an exception to the moratorium in respect of these vacancies.

However, in anticipation of prospective vacancies arising from staff on contract, an application has been made for an exception for 22 contract posts in the Road Safety Authority and for 6 contract posts in the Commission for Aviation Regulation.

The grades involved are as follows: