Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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162. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the estimated cost of hiring an additional ten Workplace Relations Commission inspectors, in terms of first-year cost and full-year cost, in tabular form. [22205/23]

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services. WRC inspectors carry out inspections of employer records with a view to determining compliance with employment rights legislation.

Currently the WRC inspectorate has 65 Inspectors serving (57 EO Inspectors + 8 HEO Inspectors), with a sanctioned complement of 70 inspectors. The complement of 70 inspectors represents an increase of 10 inspector posts since 2021 and my Department will keep staffing levels under ongoing review. The inspectorate operates as a decentralised service with inspection teams and support staff located in Dublin, Cork, Carlow, Sligo and Ennis.

The yearly cost of recruiting an executive officer inspector for the WRC would be approximately €68,667 PPC. This is based on the calculation of staff costs as set out in the Public Spending Code. The code sets out that the cost should be based on the midpoint of the salary scale and include employer’s salary related PRSI, imputed pension costs and overheads e.g., ICT equipment, legal costs, travel and subsistence. WRC inspectors also qualify for an allowance of €9,315 PPC, bringing the cost of recruiting one inspector to approximately €77,982 per annum. Using the same methodology, the cost of ten additional inspectors would be approximately €779,820 full year cost.

My Department works closely with the WRC monitoring and reviewing its resource requirements. In 2023, the WRC is allocated funding from my Department of €16,833 million for pay and non-pay.