Having enough DAERA staff to prepare for all possible outcomes of Brexit has been described as a “major issue” by the department’s head civil servant Dr Denis McMahon. In DAERA’s annual report, McMahon said that the process of redeploying staff from within the department to fill posts related to Brexit was no longer viable.

“We are considering which work can be slowed down, reduced in scale or postponed to create space for staff to be involved in the most urgent work required.”

The report states that 123 Brexit posts have been filled within DAERA so far, but 275 vacancies remain, of which 85 are related to Brexit.

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