Civil Service takes on over 500 staff as exemptions to ban

OVER 500 new staff have been permitted to be taken on in the Civil Service as exemptions to the Government’s moratorium on recruitment and promotion.

New figures show that the Department of Finance has approved in full or in part nearly 1,250 exemptions to the moratorium on recruitment and promotions in the Civil Service since it was introduced in March of last year.

The department said these exemptions, sought by various Government departments, would in time involve recruitment of 520 new staff in the Civil Service.

Among the posts approved as exemptions were five tipstaff for judges and a number of special advisers for Ministers.

In reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael earlier this week, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said five posts of tipstaff – crier and ushers – for the judiciary were approved last March as exemptions from the moratorium to meet “operational needs”.

Among other posts approved as exemptions to the moratorium were the positions of special adviser and special media adviser to Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuív. These posts were approved last May.

Two political advisers to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation Batt O’Keeffe were also approved as exemptions last May and a special adviser and a media adviser for Minister for Community and Gaeltacht Affairs Pat Carey were approved in April.

In his answer to the parliamentary question, Mr Lenihan said under the moratorium rules, Government departments could make a case to his office to sanction a post they believed should be filled.

“Each request for an exception is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Approval to fill posts is based on the business case made including consideration of, for example: statutory posts which have to be filled for legal reasons; safety-related posts where a failure to fill them could leave the State open to potential legal liabilities or for security reasons; some specialist/technical posts which are required to ensure continuity of operations. It should be noted that in accordance with the terms of the moratorium, exceptions can only be sought by Government departments and offices after all internal possibilities of reassigning staff, reorganising work, etc, have been exhausted.”

Mr Lenihan said approximately 2,800 staff had left the Civil Service since the introduction of the moratorium in March 2009.

“Exceptions have been sought to fill 1,969 posts and of these 1,247 have been approved either in full or in part. However, only some 520 of these posts will in time involve recruitment of new staff. During this period the net reduction in civil service numbers has been 2,300, representing a decrease of some 6 per cent on numbers serving numbers in the Civil Service.”

Mr Varadkar said last night the figures showed the Government’s moratorium on recruitment and promotion had reached “breaking point”. He said it had been a crude instrument in the first instance that would only work for a year or so. Mr Varadkar said a more strategic option would be to identify posts that could not be eliminated and redeploy staff as appropriate.