Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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705. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of persons who are employed by her Department; the number who are currently working remotely; and the estimated number of persons in her Department who ordinarily worked from home prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. [33979/22]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The total number of staff employed by my Department is currently 1,617. The Department has not formally moved to a blended working model as yet but approximately 30% of staff are attending the workplace on a full-time basis and the remainder are attending the workplace on patterns ranging between 2 and 4 days per week, depending on service delivery and business requirements.

In May 2022, the Department launched its formal blended working policy, which is closely aligned to the Blended Working Framework for civil service organisations agreed with union groups and formally launched by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) on 31 March 2022. Formal applications for blended working will be processed when the online application form, which is being developed centrally becomes available. It is anticipated that this will be around mid-August 2022.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were no formal arrangements in my Department for remote working.