693 Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of staff in his Department, broken down by division and section, annually since 2007 to date in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2162/10]

The information requested by the Deputy, which relates to Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) numbers, is set out in the following table:

The Deputy will note that the current staffing complement is 12% below the 2007 level.

The staff resources are allocated in response to the business needs of the Department.