THE NUMBER of staff in the public service has fallen by between 2,500 and 3,000 in the first three months of the year, the first report on employment numbers to be submitted by the Government to the International Monetary Fund will reveal.
The report, to be sent today, will say there were about 303,000 personnel in the public service at the end of March, compared with about 305,800 at the end of last December.
It is understood that each post suppressed in the public service generates average savings of about €55,000.
Highly placed sources said last night the figures indicated that targets set by the previous government last December to cut public service numbers to 301,000 by the end of this year were on course to be met.
The new Government has set higher targets for reducing the number of staff in the public service over the coming years.
The new report, the production of which is a condition of the bailout deal with the IMF, the European Union and the European Central Bank, will state that the largest level of reductions in numbers were seen in the health sector.
Informed sources said it will show there were about 1,500 to 1,600 fewer personnel in the health sector at the end of March than at the end of 2010. This is due mainly to the impact of the voluntary redundancy deal in the Health Service Executive, put in place by the previous administration last November.
The sources said that given that the numbers had fallen by more than 1,500 per quarter over the past two years, there was confidence that the original targets set by the former government might not only be met – these new figures indicated the higher targets in the new programme for government were also achievable.
In addition to the existing moratorium on recruitment, the Government has also signalled that it will consider further voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes in the public service. Minister for Health James Reilly has indicated on two occasions that he wanted to see another voluntary redundancy scheme in the HSE. Minister for Public Service Reform Brendan Howlin may look at a voluntary redundancy and early retirement scheme in the Civil Service.