Council ‘can’t cope with workload’ since hiring ban

Cork County Council has lost nearly a third of its staff since a recruitment embargo was imposed on local authorities, and fears have been expressed that its number of outdoor staff has fallen to such a critically-low level they’re incapable of dealing with their huge workload.

Figures released by the council yesterday show it had 17 senior managers in 2008, but now has nine (47%). Its clerical/administration staff have fallen by 27% from 956 to 694, while its professional/technical staff numbers were hit even harder with a 37% cut from 586 to 369.

Outdoor staff, who maintain roads, amenity areas etc, have suffered with a 32% cut. Their numbers have fallen during this timeframe from 1,285 to 878. Because they work in all kinds of weather, they have high sickness rates as well, which can exacerbate the situation.

The figures were released yesterday during a debate initiated by Cllr Melissa Mullane (SF) who said she was concerned the embargo could be lifted for senior managers but not frontline staff.

Cllr Mullane also stated she was worried that the Government was “plugging the gap” in outdoor staff by bringing in people to work for the local authority on the “cheap labour” Gateway/JobBridge schemes.

While some FG members defended the schemes, Cllr Kevin Murphy (FG) said: “We’ve gone to rock bottom with outdoor staff and it can’t continue.”

His party colleague, Cllr Noel O’Donovan (FG), said he believed the embargo could be lifted shortly due to the slight improvements in economy and then accused Cllr Mullane of putting down the motion “for a headline grabber”.

Council chief executive Tim Lucey said the council was engaging with the Gateway scheme “which is very productive”. He said it was only in extremely limited circumstances that the embargo was lifted and that filling such vacancies “was critical to this organisation”.

Since 2010, the council has managed to get the embargo lifted to replace a county engineer, chief veterinary officer, county solicitor, two divisional managers, two civil defence officers and a number of firemen.

Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Coleman (FF) said no local authority in the country had received permission to lift the embargo to get new clerical or outdoor staff replacements.

Mr Lucey argued that the cuts were equitable across the board and that a higher percentage of jobs had been lost in top management and that council staff had been working harder to plug the gaps. He said a further 37 staff were due to retire before the end of the year and they were unlikely to be replaced.

Mr Lucey said the council was preparing “a workforce plan” which would detail the level of staff it will need to run the organisation during the next three to four years.

He said that when completed, it would be forwarded to the Department of Environment, which is likely to be next spring.