Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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77. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for an update on the third secretary hiring competition; the number of persons recruited as part of this competition; how many are currently on the recruitment panel; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4913/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Public Appointments Service, known as Publicjobs, is the body designated under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 to provide shared service recruitment to the public and civil service and is responsible for the current Third Secretary competition which was launched in July 2024.

As of 07 February 2025, three candidates have been assigned by Publicjobs to the Department and will be taking up duty shortly. We expect a number of additional candidates to be assigned by Publicjobs in the coming days.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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78. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff, and their associated grades, assigned to each division within his Department, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4914/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The number of civil servants in each division and standalone unit in my Department as at 04 February 2025, broken down by grade, is provided in tabular form below. In addition, 476 Department staff are posted to Ireland’s missions abroad.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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79. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of vacancies, including the grade, within his Department, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4915/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Over the past five years, the Department of Foreign Affairs has grown as Ireland’s diplomatic footprint has expanded and as our Passport Service continues to successfully meet high demand for passports with turnaround times at or well-ahead of target.

On 27 January 2025, the Department employed 2,215 civil servants.

There are currently a small number of civil service vacancies to be filled from panels established in recent or planned competitions. The table below provides details of these as of 07 February 2025.