Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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260. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will provide information on the number of persons of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds currently working in her Department and in other public service organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20439/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Recruitment to my Department is undertaken principally by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) through competitions advertised publicly, setting out the competencies required for general civil service posts and technical/professional posts as appropriate. The Department is an Equal Opportunities Employer and the PAS operates under relevant Codes of Practice and its Customer Charter in an open and fair manner for all clients and customers.

No data is collated by my Department on the ethnic and cultural background of staff. My Department has a diverse workforce, including some with skills in languages other than English, as reflected, for example, by the commitment in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to provide for Inspectors with specific language skills. In this regard, Inspectors were recruited who were proficient in languages including Polish, Lithuanian, Czech and Russian, with some Inspectors proficient in multiple languages. There are currently eight such Inspectors in post.