Written answers

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government

Local Authority Staff Data

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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2176. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department has conducted a review of planning personnel capacity in each local authority; if his attention has been drawn to the shortages of specialist staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27183/17]

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the 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 each individual Chief Executive to review organisational staffing needs and to recruit and assign staff to specific functional areas.

While my Department has not conducted a review of planning personnel capacity in local authorities, since January 2015, 107 sanction applications have been received from local authorities for specialist planner posts. Of these 107, 4 applications were withdrawn and 103 were approved by my Department.

In 2016, sanction was delegated from my Department to almost all local authority Chief Executives to fill vacancies at Executive Planner level and below, in line with their agreed workforce plan, without seeking approval from my Department. Local authorities must apply to my Department for planners additional to their agreed staffing numbers and currently there are no applications pending.

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