Under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001, each Chief Executive is responsible for the staffing and organisational arrangements necessary for carrying out the functions of the local authority for which he or she is responsible.
My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector and it is a requirement that approval is sought for any additional post outside of agreed workforce plan numbers. It is open to local authorities to submit staffing sanction requests to my Department, confirming that they have the requisite funding in place, and each is examined on a case by case basis. My Department has not received a staffing sanction request from Leitrim County Council for a post titled Irish Language Officer.