Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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137. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide a detailed list in tabular form of all staff vacancies, within his Department and in each agency under his Department's remit, at principal officer grade or above, including the title of the vacant post and the functional area to which it belongs; the length of time the post has been vacant; the salary attached to the post in question; in respect of agencies where Civil Service grades do not apply, if he will include vacancies where the post attracts a salary equivalent to or greater than a principal officer grade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25116/14]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department and the agencies under its remit are subject to the Moratorium on Public Service Recruitment, introduced in March 2009. Under the moratorium, appointments to positions at the grade of Principal Officer or above, either by way of recruitment or promotion, can only be made on foot of specific sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

There are currently no vacancies at Principal Officer level or above in my Department. However, I would advise the Deputy that my Department has recently secured sanction for the appointment in the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga of a Principal Officer – which will be a seconded post from my Department's complement. The open competition to fill this post is now underway, having been advertised by PAS earlier this month.

In relation to the bodies under the aegis of my Department:

- Sanction has been secured for the filling of the post of Director of the National Archives, which will shortly become vacant due to the retirement of the Acting Director. The competition to fill this post will be advertised by PAS this month.

- The position of Director of the National Library is currently vacant and arrangements for the filling of the post are ongoing. In the meantime, a senior officer at the Library is filling the post in an acting capacity.