Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 265: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the number of applications from staff for transfer, relocation or exchange received in her Department and or other bodies or agencies under her aegis funded by her Department in each of the past three years to date in 2010; the number of approvals; the number of rejections; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30779/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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All applications for transfer to and from my Department, which has been in the process of decentralising to Killarney since 2004, have been processed through the Central Applications Facility, which is managed by the Public Appointments Service.

Applications for transfer, relocation or exchange received in the bodies or agencies under the aegis of the Department are a day to day matter for the agencies themselves.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 266: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the funding that has been made available for training civil servants in 2010 in her Department; the extent to which this sum has been further reduced since the initial allocation in the estimates for her Department; the extent to which such sums have been spent to the end of June 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31684/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A provision of €85,000 was made for training and development of staff in my Department's Estimate for 2010. This figure is exclusive of salaries and overheads associated with the operation of the Training Unit which are charged separately. Expenditure to end June was €18,000 and while there is likely to be an increase in expenditure in the second half of the year the objective is to secure savings on the original provision.

My Department is strongly committed to ensuring that staff training is focused on addressing identified skills shortages to optimise the use of resources, including human resources. Every effort is made to achieve value for money and in this regard my Department is exploring the scope for sharing of training with other Departments and Offices, particularly in Killarney, and for greater use of e-learning.