Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 604: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to provide extra staff to the Adoption Board in order to process foreign applications in a timely manner; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32155/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The staff of the Adoption Board currently constitute part of my Department's staffing complement.

There are 425 staff currently employed in the core Department (in addition there are 46 staff employed across a number of smaller offices including the Adoption Board, the Office of the Children's Ombudsman, the Disability Appeals Office and the Health Repayment Scheme Appeals Office). This is a reduction of 126 (23%) on the number employed at the end of December 2004. In 2009 alone, 56 staff left the Department as a result of the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement, the Incentivised Career Break Scheme, normal age-related retirement or by way of redeployment to other departments. In line with the Employment Control Framework (ECF) setting out Government policy on numbers employed in the public service, the Department must further reduce its staffing to a core Department of around 400 by 2012. We will use appropriate mechanisms, including redeployment, to adhere to our ECF targets.

Notwithstanding the overall reductions referred to above, an additional three staff members have been assigned to the Board recently, and arrangements have also been made to deal with existing backlogs through overtime working.

Following recent enactment of the Adoption Act 2010 the Adoption Board is expected to be established as an independent Adoption Authority on 1st November 2010.