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, including the monitoring of local government sector employment levels. To this end, my Department gathers aggregate quarterly data on staff numbers in each local authority on a whole time equivalent basis. However, granular data, in terms of the number of potential retirements at particular grade levels is not collected.
The planning process underpins the delivery of many public policy, societal, economic, and environmental objectives in Ireland. Arising from the Government’s very significant focus on, and commitment to, the delivery of housing, physical and social infrastructure, environmental protection and climate transition through a sustainable and robust planning system, the required staffing levels in local authority planning departments have grown significantly in recent years.
In support of the planning function within local authorities, 101 planning related posts were approved in October 2023. Further approval for 112 additional posts issued in January 2025 of which 56 were planning related staff officer posts and 56 graduate planner posts. In May 2025, a very successful national recruitment campaign, supported by my Department, was launched to attract graduate planners into Ireland’s local authorities in accordance with Action 4 of the Ministerial Action Plan. Almost all posts are currently filled. More recently, 31 new full-time posts in the local authority planning service were approved across the 31 local authorities.
Under the Ministerial Action Plan on Planning Resources, the occupation of town planner was added to the Critical Skills Occupation List in accordance with Action 9 of the Ministerial Action Plan. Funding for local authorities to support a summer intern programme for second and third year University planning students was also recently approved.
