Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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403. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when he expects the role Chief Executive of Dublin City Council will be advertised by the Public Appointments Service; and when he expects a permanent replacement will be appointed to the role Chief Executive of Dublin City Council. [39536/23]

Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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404. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason a permanent replacement for the role of Chief Executive of Dublin City Council was not selected prior to the departure of the permanent incumbent Chief Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39537/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 403, 404 and 524 together.

The competition to appoint the next chief executive of Dublin City Council was advertised by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) on 15 September 2023. The competition is open for applications until 5 October 2023 and details of the appointment process are outlined in the information booklet for this competition.

Dublin City Council has a unique and critical role in local government: it is the largest local authority in Ireland, with 63 Elected Members representing and serving 588,000 people in the city area. It plays a pivotal role in the provision of services to the 1.4 million people in the Dublin Region, and in ensuring that the city can welcome and support a large number of visitors on a daily basis for employment, business, recreation and tourism.

Dublin City Council takes a leading role in shaping the strategic vision of Dublin as a dynamic and sustainable city and seeks to continually enhance the city’s attractiveness as a place in which to invest, to work, to live, and to visit.

With an annual expenditure of almost €1.8 billion (revenue and capital) and a workforce of almost 5,600 (full time equivalents), the City Council provides a diverse, multi-layered and evolving range of services and infrastructure to both citizens and visitors to Dublin that sustain the life of the city.

Mr. Richard Shakespeare was appointed by Ministerial Order as temporary chief executive of Dublin City Council under section 145(6) of the Local Government Act, 2001, as amended, from 10 September 2023 until a permanent appointment is made to the post. Such temporary appointments to the position of chief executive of a local authority are not unusual and the appointments ensure that no gap exists in these critical top level management posts.

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) manages recruitment competitions for local authority Chief Executives and the Department notified PAS of this vacancy in February 2023. PAS has dealt with a large number of such vacancies in 2023, with four new Chief Executives being recommended following recruitment processes in the first half of the year, following on from two competitions that were held late in 2022. The competition for the Chief Executive role in Meath County Council is currently underway. Dublin City is therefore the eighth competition in approximately 10 months.

In relation to the competition for the Dublin City Council chief executive post, my Department decided in conjunction with the Public Appointments Service to procure an external supplier to carry out an executive search process. The decision to carry out this process was taken in an effort to promote this competition and ensure that a broad range of candidates of the highest calibre apply to be considered for appointment to this critically important role. A permanent Chief Executive will be appointed following completion of the PAS process which will take place over the coming months.