Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

267. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of regular grade civil servants his Department has hired in advance of a no-deal Brexit; the number of specialist grade civil servants hired in advance of same; the budget made available in advance of Brexit for hiring of staff in advance of the UK withdrawal from the EU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3324/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To date, staff in my Department have been assigned Brexit-related roles in addition to their existing responsibilities, rather than being assigned exclusively to Brexit matters. This has enabled broad engagement across the Department and has ensured the availability of appropriate expertise in all relevant areas. It has also enabled the Department to become fully engaged in the cross-Departmental work on Brexit-related issues.

Taking on these additional responsibilities has been facilitated from within the general increase in staffing resources put in place across the Department in recent years, including in 2018 when the overall staffing complement of the organisation increased from a Fulltime Equivalent (FTE) number of 655 at end December 2017 to FTE of 719 at end December 2018.