Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection further to Parliamentary Question Number 200 of 22 September 2015, if she will address a matter (details supplied) regarding the number of clerical workers who transferred from Foras Áiseanna Saothair - the Irish National Training and Employment Authority - to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39401/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The staff who transferred from FÁS into my Department in 2012 were in a variety of FÁS grades.

These grades were mapped against Civil Service grades in accordance with pay scales and were approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and were duly agreed with the FÁS unions.

In respect of the FÁS Grades 11G, 11H, 11K, 11L, 11P, the pay scales for these grades, both standard and higher, matched exactly with the contributory pay scales for Civil Service Clerical Officer and were assimilated to that grade on this basis.

It is also the case that FÁS had Grades 11A, 11J and 11N whose pay scales were equivalent to that of the Civil Service Staff Officer Grade and these were assimilated to that grade.

At no stage was the assimilation of the FÁS Grade 11s to the Civil Service Clerical Officer Grade a matter of contention between the FÁS unions and either FÁS or my Department.

As previously advised, new arrangements concerning promotion eligibility criteria have recently been implemented. Competitions for promotion outline both the relevant job specification and person specifications expected of the grade in question. Subject to having two years satisfactory service, any member of staff, regardless of their current grade, is entitled to participate in these competitions.

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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155. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the staffing levels at the pensions office in Sligo town; if the temporary staff who worked in the water grant section and the back to school grant section, which are now closing down, will have the opportunity of other work at this location in the near future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39408/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are currently 523 staff serving in my Department’s office in College Road, Sligo.

The temporary staff to whom the Deputy refers were recruited on fixed purpose contracts i.e. they were recruited to assist with specific projects. In accordance with the relevant employment legislation, once the purpose for which they were recruited ends, the Department is obliged to give appropriate notice and end the employment.

In the case of the temporary staff working on the Back to School Clothing and Footwear scheme, the scheme for 2015 has ended and the staff were given appropriate notice and their contracts were terminated.

Work is on-going in the section dealing with the Water Grant Conservation Scheme. The contracts of the temporary staff working on this project are subject to review and they will receive appropriate notice when their temporary employment is to end.