Professional posts and departmental staffing
Kelly asked whether the new Department had created professional posts and whether it retained the same staff and duties as Finance’s planning sections. O’Donoghue said no professional posts had been created, but denied that the Department simply consisted of the same officials transferred unchanged.
asked the Minister for Economic Planning and Development how many new posts at professional level have been created and filled in his Department since its creation, by comparison with the previous establishment of the planning sections of the Department of Finance.
Comment on this
There have been no new posts at professional level created in my Department since its establishment.
Comment on this
Does the Department not basically consist of the same officials sitting in the same rooms at the same desks doing the same jobs as under the Department of Finance in the time of the Coalition Government and the preceding Government?
Comment on this
No. The staff were recruited by the usual process from a variety of other Government Departments. The Deputy asked a specific question about professional posts. There is a clear distinction drawn in the civil service structure between what one might describe as normal civil servants and professional posts.