PRIVATE SECTOR: The Government plans to introduce a code of conduct for civil servants moving to the private sector to ensure they do not abuse their insider knowledge.
The secretary general for the Department of Public Enterprise Mr Brendan Tuohy and Revenue Commissioner Ms Josephine Feehily have confirmed that proposals are in the pipeline to tighten up existing guidelines after the issue was raised by senior SIPTU official Mr Noel Dowling at a conference in Dublin yesterday.
Mr Dowling expressed concern at the annual Industrial Relations News conference about the "increased tendency of senior civil servants to retire early and make up for low pay by taking up consultancy work in the private sector".
Mr Tuohy, one of the main speakers at the conference, said an informal set of guidelines existed and proposals were in the pipeline.
"There is an informal situation now where you don't get involved in anything you were involved in originally in the department." He said former senior civil servants had done nothing wrong in accepting senior private sector positions.
Ms Feehily, who spoke on the Government's strategic management initiative, said concerns had been expressed at the Public Accounts Committee over former tax inspectors becoming tax consultants and then meeting former colleagues on behalf of clients.
Senior civil servants are not supposed to work for two years after leaving the service in areas where they have been actively involved. One problem with introducing a formal code is it cannot violate constitutional employment rights.
