Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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175. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide the following information regarding Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council which has not been made available by the chief executive of the said council despite the request being made by an elected councillor via a council question to the CEO at the council meeting of 7 July, the number of staff positions that are vacant; the number of vacant positions that have been filled in an acting capacity; if he will provide a list of positions vacant and the period of time for which they have been vacant; and if any vacancies have been filled by virtue of special circumstances. [31951/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service was introduced in March 2009 in response to the financial crisis. My Department operates a delegated sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for implementation of the moratorium in relation to local authorities, and any exceptions to the moratorium in local authorities require sanction from my Department.

Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authorities for which he or she is responsible. In this regard, it is a matter for Chief Executives, in the first instance, to ensure that the moratorium is implemented while appropriate service levels are maintained.

My Department examines all staffing sanction requests on a case by case basis having due regard to the continued delivery of key services in the context of staffing and budgetary constraints. In considering sanction requests public safety, maintaining key front line services, and economic issues are given precedence. Since 1 January 2014, my Department has sanctioned 12 temporary lifeguard positions and 1 Cemetery Supervisor position at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council as exceptions to the staffing moratorium. My Department does not co llect data on vacancies in the local government sector. However, my Department does gather quarterly data on staff numbers in local authorities including the numbers of acting arrangements. The number of staff on actin g arrangements reported by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on 30 June 2014 was 23.2 ( Whole Time E quivalent basis ).