Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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99. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the way in which public funding is being distributed on salaries at a university (details supplied); if there have been any changes in policy with regard to salaries within the university and a change in policy with regard to the way promotions and permanency of employment are provided to certain grades of employee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2237/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA designated higher education institutions, including the university referred to by the Deputy.  The internal disbursement of funding is then a matter for the individual institution. Universities are autonomous bodies as set out in the Universities Act 1997 and are responsible for their own day to day affairs.

As the Deputy will be aware, since the introduction of the moratorium on public sector recruitment, an Employment

Control Framework (ECF) has been in place for the higher education sector which provides institutions with considerable flexibility to fill vacancies, through recruitment or promotions on the basis of meeting an overall ceiling of posts.

In Budget 2015, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced that the existing ECFs and associated moratoriums would be lifted and replaced with a system of delegated sanction for recruiting and promoting up to Principal Officer level, subject to adherence by Departments to binding pay ceilings and ongoing compliance with Workforce Planning requirements. In light of this announcement it is hoped that a new Delegated Sanction Agreement for the higher education sector will be put in place shortly.