I propose to take Questions Nos. 451 and 452 together.
It is essential that each local authority proactively manages their current and future workforce to enable the sector to respond to its strategic challenges. Strategic Workforce Planning (SWFP) is a dynamic process which enables the ongoing review and re-organisation of the current workforce capacity and capability as fresh challenges materialise and service demand evolves. The SWFP process enables the appropriate organisation and deployment of existing skills, competencies, experience and headcount, and facilitates identification of gaps in capacity and capability and the measures required to fill those gaps, such as the development of or the upskilling of existing staff and / or sourcing new talent.
My Department is obliged to manage employment numbers in the local government sector in accordance with a delegated sanction granted by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation. One of the conditions attaching to the delegated sanction is the requirement for local authorities to undertake strategic workforce planning. To assist local authorities in undertaking meaningful strategic workforce planning, SWFP Guidelines for the Local Government Sector were published in 2024 and are available on my Department's website at the following link: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/strategic-workforce-planning-guidelines.pdf. These guidelines build upon the “Our Public Service 2020 Strategic Workforce Planning Guide” previously published by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
Where the completion of a SWFP identifies additional resource requirements, it is a matter for the Chief Executive, who under section 159 of the Local Government Act 2001 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, to submit staffing sanction requests for new posts to my Department. In order for a local authority to submit a staffing sanction request, a local authority must be in a position to confirm that funding is in place for the post either from the local authority's own resources or from external sources.
Following a review in 2023, Local Property Tax (LPT) baselines for each local authority were adjusted in accordance with five criteria: population, area, deprivation levels, an authority’s locally raised income and achievement of National Policy Priorities, with every authority receiving a minimum increase of €1.5m. Building on the baseline increases of 2024, there was a further increase of €42m to the overall baselines in 2026, in line with the expected increased yield from revaluation expected in each local authority area.
Local Property tax replaced the General Purpose Grant, and as such is intended as a contribution to day-to-day operational costs of the local authority. While LPT may contribute to salary costs in the sector, it is a matter for each local authority to determine how this allocation is spent. It should be noted that this is a finite income source, mostly dependent on the LPT collected across the State, and the discretionary income from LPT represents just 6% of the overall revenue income of the sector.
