Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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52. To ask the Taoiseach the number of staff to be appointed to the policy and programme implementation unit of his Department; if the staff will be redeployed from within the Civil Service; and if new hires, the number. [17265/20]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government sets out a number of reforms to be implemented in order to ensure openness and constructive cooperation within government. These include the establishment of an Office of the Tánaiste and an Office of the Leader of the Green Party within the Department of the Taoiseach, located in Government Buildings. The Office of the Tánaiste will consist of a private office and a policy and programme implementation unit.

The purpose of these offices is to support both the Tánaiste and the Leader of the Green Party in the coordination and implementation of policy within Government. In particular, the policy and programme implementation unit will assist the Tánaiste in work relating to Cabinet, Cabinet Committees and oversight of the implementation of the Programme for Government. The details of the roles and staffing of these offices, staffing have not been finalised to date. To date three Civil Servants have been redeployed from within my own Department to the Tánaiste Private Office. Appointments to these offices will be made in line with the Public Service Management Act, 1997 and will be published in due course.