Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Question 14: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to reduce the number of local authority managers and the number of directors of services as part of his cost-cutting initiatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24093/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Local Government Efficiency Review Group recommended, inter alia, that the number of county and city managers be reduced from 34 to 24 and that the number of Directors be reduced from 240 to 190. Under the terms of the moratorium on public sector employment all recruitment in local authorities requires sanction from my Department.

I have established an independent Implementation Group, chaired by Mr. Pat McLoughlin - who also chaired the Local Government Efficiency Review Group - to drive the delivery of relevant recommendations of the Review Groups Report.

The position of county/city manager is a statutory one and any initiatives to reduce the number of managers requires parallel consideration of local government structures at county and city level.

In this regard, the Government has announced its intention to establish single local authorities in Limerick and Tipperary to replace the Limerick County and City Councils and North and South Tipperary County Councils. I have established an Implementation Group for Limerick and a similar group will shortly be established for Tipperary. In line with the Government decision I will also be establishing a Committee to examine local government in Waterford.

The number of Directors currently stands at 231 and it is anticipated that this number will reduce further in the period to February 2012. My Department is working closely with local authorities and the Efficiency Review Implementation Group to identify the optimum number of Directors for each local authority for the future.

The Efficiency Review Group recommended that further, more detailed, reviews be carried out in respect of Dublin City (DCC) and Cork City Councils. The DCC Review has been completed with a review of Cork City Council now to be considered. The DCC Review identified that up to 28.2 senior managers will leave in the next number of years while it would propose to seek to fill only two thirds of those positions. This would result in a net reduction of 10 senior manager positions in DCC.