Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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438. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if additional permanent staff will be assigned to the Office of Public Works in County Kerry to deal with their workload; if he will provide details of staffing complements in County Kerry over the past ten years in tabular form, indicating seasonal and permanent positions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13780/14]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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In line with all Government Departments and Offices, permanent staffing levels in the Office of Public Works (OPW) are governed by Government policy on the control of public service numbers and costs through the Employment Control Framework (ECF) system. The ECF maximum staffing level for the OPW is centrally determined and the Office must adhere to this. The staffing requirements for the OPW over the medium to long term are currently under review in the context of a Workforce Planning exercise covering all areas of activity within the organisation and the staffing needs of the flood risk management and arterial drainage maintenance areas are being assessed in that context.

Table 1 shows staff resources for County Kerry on both the River Maine Catchment Drainage Scheme (CDS) and the River Feale CDS. The numbers reflect staff who are employed as excavator driver (channel maintenance), ranger (inspection of embankments), or on structures (repair or construction), and could be regarded as frontline staff. Those involved in a supervisory, mechanical and transport, and office/stores function are included under Other. In general Seasonal staff are employed for 6 months per year, from April to September. There can be some variation on the numbers in any given year due to presence of seasonal staff, sick leave, and temporary re-assignment etc. The numbers presented were taken at End of June in each year for consistency.

Table 1

Drainage Maintenance Staff Dealing with the OPW Schemes in Kerry