Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of employees within his Department, male and female, who have been approved for participation in the Civil Service flexible working scheme; the number of employees, male and female, who have been refused leave to participate in the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36888/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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At 1st October 2010, the number of staff in my Department who are participating in the work sharing scheme was 967 of which 926 are female and 41 are male.

All applications for participation in the scheme are subject to the principle that the operating requirements of individual business units and the Department as a whole are not adversely affected. Approval of applications is, in the first instance a matter for local management with appropriate input from the Department's Personnel Branch.

While details of all applications that are approved are forwarded to the Personnel Branch for recording and appropriate action, not all cases that are refused at local management level are recorded centrally. Accordingly, it is not possible to state categorically the number of applications refused. However, I can advise that Personnel Branch currently has a record of 12 people who have been refused an application to change their attendance pattern. Of the 12 people in question 11 are female and 1 is male.