Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government makes a number of commitments in relation to more balanced regional development. This includes, where possible, the commitment to prioritise the siting of new State Agencies and Government Offices in towns and cities outside of Dublin. While many Departments may traditionally have been headquartered in Dublin, over half of all civil servants are now located outside of Dublin. In the case of my own Department, for example, personnel within my Department and Agencies under my Department are based in several regions throughout the country. This includes a significant payroll operation for the National Shared Services Office that is based in Killarney that undertakes payroll transactions for the entire civil service, as well as procurement operations in Sligo, Limerick and Little Island in Cork.

The vast majority of open competitions for civil service positions, which are advertised by the Public Appointments Service on www.publicjobs.ie, allow for the formation of regional panels to fill regional vacancies as the business need arises at all levels within the civil service. Additionally, my Department operates a Mobility Programme for the civil service whereby eligible civil servants can apply for transfer to another geographic region within the country at their current grade including, for example, from Dublin to Galway or vice versa.

As the Deputy will appreciate, Covid-19 has posed unprecedented challenges for the workforce in both the private sector and public sector in Ireland. It has also afforded new opportunities and innovative ways of working that we are all eager to harness into the future. The Programme for Government commits to an Enterprise Policy as part of the National Development Plan to enable increased remote, flexible and hub-working arrangements to promote better work-life balance, higher female labour market participation, less commuting, and greater regional balance.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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140. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is engaged in discussions to agree revised principles for a new higher education staffing agreement to update the current employment control framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32471/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Officials from my Department engage on an ongoing basis with colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on multiple policy and operational issues, including consideration of principles for a Higher Education Staffing Agreement. The purpose of a Higher Education Staffing Agreement, once finalised, will be to update the existing overarching Employment Control Framework (ECF) approach which has been in place since 2010 and which is still in place in a number of sectors in the public service.

While the operation and management of the existing ECF approach is a matter for DFHERIS, HEA and the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs), key issues from my Department’s perspective are to ensure that it appropriately reflects fiscal, expenditure and public service staffing and pay policies. Regarding the overarching principles for a new approach, my Department is seeking to ensure that staffing decisions taken in the higher education sector are affordable and sustainable both from a higher education perspective but also from an Exchequer and wider public service staffing and pensions perspective. My Department is also mindful of the need to ensure that there is appropriate flexibility built in to any revised approach so that HEIs can operate efficiently in make their staffing decisions, having regard to their overall expenditure allocations and other appropriate controls.