Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of vacant civil servant or public servant positions in her Department on 1 October 2009, and in the State bodies or organisations answerable to her; 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. [35043/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Since early 2008, the Department has experienced significant pressure on customer services due mainly to the increase in the Live Register. In recognition of this pressure, the Government has approved an increase in the number of staff working in the Department.

In line with the Government moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the Civil Service, the additional staff have been sourced by the redeployment or lateral transfer of serving Civil Servants either within the Department or from other Government Departments. To facilitate this process, in July 2009, the Department of Finance implemented a staff levy on other Government Departments to allow for the filling of the additional posts approved and for the filling of vacancies in key customer areas.

To date, some 357 additional staff have been assigned to Local Offices, new Central Support Units and the Departments Inspectorate to specifically deal with the increase in claims for unemployment payments.

The following vacancies in the Agencies under the aegis of the Department have arisen since the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service was introduced. No applications for exemptions from the moratorium have been made.