Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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681. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of vacancies in his Department for Brexit-related roles; the expected date for these roles to be filled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38826/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The International Policy Division within my Department has been assigned responsibility for co-ordinating the Department's work as it relates to matters concerning UK withdrawal from the EU. The Division is headed-up by an Assistant Secretary and comprises a team in Dublin and a team based in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, currently consisting of thirteen Officers. This figure includes two recent additional posts, in the Permanent Representation to support the Brussels based aspects of the forthcoming negotiations, and in the International Policy Division in Dublin.

Complementing this, six senior officers from each of the key areas in the Department (who are in turn supported by relevant staff) have been selected to make up a cross Divisional working group to focus on the key negotiating issues.

Currently there are no vacant Brexit related roles. The possibility that additional staffing resources may be required to work on Brexit related issues has been flagged in the Department’s Workforce Plan. This is being kept under review and weekly progress updates are provided to the Department's Management Board on the analysis and preparations under way.