Brendan McGrath, chief executive of the Galway City Council, hopes the local authority can employ a further 30 to 40 staff in 2022.
Mr McGrath told Monday's Galway City Council that 1,000 services are being provided by staff. "At the end of the first week of May Galway City Council had 524 staff," he said.
About 40 are employed in part-time roles Mr McGrath confirmed. "The 524 at the end of the first week of May equates to the number of staff in 2007 and 2008.mThe whole time equivalent staff in May was 493."
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Mr McGrath [pictured above] added that of the 493 staff, 22 per cent were on contracts or temporary, 12 per cent were in acting up roles.
"Quite a few of our staff moved on to other local authorities and State agencies," he said. "We are competing against the private sector. People make choices to move on. In the last six months we have lost staff, we are trying to employ staff in a competitive environment. We probably need to provide funding in the budget for 40 additional staff."
Councillors asked Mr McGrath how much it would cost to take on a significant number of new workers.
He responded: "For 40 additional staff - depending on grades - you are looking at a cost of €1.75 million with employers PRSI and other overheads, €1.75 to €1.79 million, that sort of order. The challenge is we require staff as soon as possible and we cannot wait."
