Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the public service recruitment moratorium is currently being applied to the hiring of additional social workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26043/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The approved Employment Control Framework for the HSE exempts social worker posts from the current moratorium on recruitment and the filling of vacancies.

An additional 60 social workers are due to be recruited by the HSE in 2011. In reviewing its overall appointment and recruitment the HSE, last week, prioritised some key development posts and decided to process the recruitment of these staff with a view to their taking up employment before the end of the year. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that 60 additional social workers have been prioritised and included in this category of staff. This means that the HSE has confirmed that it will be in a position to finalise the recruitment of the additional social workers between now and the end of the year