Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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64. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of vacant WTE posts, by job title, currently at the Financial Service and Pensions Ombudsman; and the estimated timeframe in which each of the vacancies will be filled, in tabular form. [45653/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) is an important part of the robust consumer protection framework in place in Ireland to support consumers of financial products and services.

It is an independent and impartial statutory body that helps to resolve complaints from consumers, including small businesses and other organisations, about the conduct of regulated financial service providers and pension providers.

In December 2023, the Minister for Finance sanctioned a significant increase in additional staff for the FSPO under its Workforce Plan 2024-2026. This increased the sanctioned staff complement from 90.2 to 128, a 42% increase in FSPO staffing.

The implementation of this Workforce Plan will increase the FSPO’s resources and the capacity of the organisation to resolve cases promptly. The FSPO has been actively recruiting and training these additional staff throughout the year.

To date in 2024, 41 appointments have been made. Some of these appointments were promotions of existing staff resulting in new vacancies to be filled. The outstanding recruitment plan, which includes anticipated on-boarding dates is set out below.

With respect to the vacancies below, two have accepted offers of appointment and onboarding dates and, at 1 December 2024 total anticipated vacancies will be 15.

The FSPO’s staff headcount (FTE) at 4 November 2024 is 111.4.