Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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119. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of applicants awaiting transfer in his Department to locations other that their present location; the number of applications, by location; the rules that apply for such transfers; if an applicant has a defined position on the list for transfer; the grounds that apply to applicants being moved up or down on the list; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38759/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The number of my Department’s staff who have applied for a transfer in my Department to locations other than that of their present location is set out in tabular format below. This includes staff seeking to move from one of my Department’s regional locations to another.

My Department has a longstanding policy of affording staff the opportunity to experience different types of work in order to further their career development. The objective of the staff mobility policy operating within the Department is to help staff develop their full potential in a systematic way while also meeting the business needs of the Department. Staff transfer requests from one location of my Department to another location of my Department are noted by grade in date order and facilitated through my Department's HR Section in line with this policy.

In line with centrally agreed Department of Public Expenditure and Reform processes, staff at Clerical Officer and Staff Officer grades may apply to transfer to another Department in an established provincial location through the Central Transfer List. For the staff of my Department, their participation in this process is managed by the HR Section in my Department. Staff can make application to the HR Section outlining their location preferences and are facilitated as much as possible. However, this is dependent on the business needs of the Department and availability of posts within the other Departments at any given time.

A staff member at any grade up to Principal Officer who wishes to transfer to another Government Department must identify an officer of the same grade in the other Department who is willing to exchange positions, i.e. the “head-to-head” mechanism. Such exchanges can only take place with the agreement of the Personnel Officers in both Departments.

Finally, staff of my Department are also based in a number of Dublin city locations and moves between these locations usually arise as a result of the routine operation of the staff mobility policy or on promotion. I have not included these more routine internal “transfers” in the summary data supplied above.