458. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of EU Presidency policy and administrative officers now employed on temporary contracts across her Department, in Ireland and abroad; if these individuals can apply to internal civil service competitions for these temporary contracts; the plans being developed to retain these individuals once their contracts cease, given they will have extensive and intimate knowledge of EU and Irish institutional operations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54587/26]

The Department employs two temporary EU Presidency Policy Officers and one temporary EU Presidency Administration Officer, all located in Brussels. These roles were filled through a panel formed from an open recruitment campaign run by Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, Brussels.

All locally recruited staff in Belgium are employed under Belgian labour law, and are subject to the employment laws in Belgium. Locally recruited staff are ineligible to apply for internal civil service competitions as they are not civil servant.