Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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280. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide a breakdown of the expected training and development and incidental expenses with a list of the training and development courses he expects officers in his Department to undergo in 2015; the spend allocated for same in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30038/14]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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My Department supports the career and personal development of staff through formal training courses, in-house training, attendance at relevant conferences and seminars, refund of academic fees and reimbursement of professional membership fees. Training and development needs and skills requirements to deliver on business plans and objectives are identified during my Department's business planning process and also from the outcome of the Performance Management Development System at the end of each calendar year and the beginning of the following year. Some €240,000 is allocated for training and development in 2014. The training and development being delivered this year includes training in health and safety, IT, financial management, accounting, business and economics, corporate governance, the Irish language and specialist areas such as legal, biological and archaeological functions.

The allocation for training and all other aspects of my Department's activities in 2015 will be determined as part of the process leading to the finalisation of Budget 2015, which will be presented to Dáil Éireann in mid-October. In advance of that, it is not possible to provide the Deputy with the allocation for the training and development budget for 2015 or a list all of the training and development courses and expenses to be provided in 2015.