Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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330. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of staff allocated in each local authority to ensure compliance with solid fuel regulations in each local authority since 2018; the number of inspections carried out by each local authority in each of the years since 2018; the nature of the enforcement taken; the number of fuel samples collected and analysed for each local authority in each such year; if they complied with the regulations; if each local authority has reported annually to the Environmental Protection Authority as required; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24876/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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 authority for which he or she is responsible.

My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis.

However, granular data, in terms of the number of staff allocated in each local authority to ensure compliance with solid fuel regulations is not collected and consequently is not available in my Department. The relevant information should be available from each local authority.

Separately, my Department does not hold information in relation to inspections and enforcement by local authorities under the Air Pollution Act (Marketing, Sale, Distribution and Burning of Specific Fuels) Regulations 2012. Such information should be available from individual local authorities or the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.