Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of full-time firefighters in 2008 and 2009; if there is an embargo on recruitment to the fire service; the number of requests for recruitment applications that have been accepted; the number that were refused in 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2471/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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In accordance with Government policy and implementing instructions from the Department of Finance relating to the general moratorium on the filling of public sector posts, local authorities were given sanction to recruit full-time fire fighters without recourse to my Department. This sanction applied from 13 May until 20 August 2009, when the Department of Finance delegated sanction for the implementation of the moratorium to my Department on condition that the overall staffing levels in the local authority sector were to be reduced significantly by the end of 2010 in adherence to Government policy on staffing and numbers in the public sector.

Subsequent to 20 August 2009, local authorities require sanction from my Department for the filling of any vacancies which arise. One application for recruitment of a full-time fire fighter has since been received, and has been approved.

The recruitment of fire-fighters is reflected in the quarterly returns which local authorities provide to my Department. The number of full-time fire fighters employed by local authorities as returned to my Department for the end of December 2008 was 1,303 and for the end of September 2009 – the date of the most recent figures available – was 1,271.