asked the Minister for the Public Service the number of hours of overtime worked during 1976 for which payment was made (a) in the civil service and (b) in the public service, excluding (a); and the number of full-time posts which would have been required to be filled if no such overtime had been worked.
Written Answers. - Public Service Overtime.
51.
The information requested by the Deputy is summarised below.
PART I
(a) Civil Service (including industrial and contract staffs)
|
Vote Number |
Service |
Number of hours of payable overtime worked during 1976 |
Cost |
|
£ |
|||
|
2. |
Houses of the Oireachtas |
8,246 |
11,154 |
|
3. |
Department of the Taoiseach |
760 |
1,335 |
|
4. |
Central Statistics Office |
10,508 |
15,500 |
|
6. |
Office of the Minister for Finance |
27,911 |
47,329 |
|
8. |
Office of the Revenue Commissioners |
705,471 |
1,342,854 |
|
9. |
Public Works and Buildings |
285,911 |
368,692 |
|
(see Note 2) |
|||
|
10. |
State Laboratory |
1,878 |
3,170 |
|
12. |
Office of the Attorney General |
780 |
1,560 |
|
15. |
Stationery Office |
37,320 |
54,510 |
|
16. |
Valuation and Ordnance Survey |
10,837 |
16,831 |
|
18. |
Office of the Minister for the Public Service |
27,595 |
50,820 |
|
19. |
Civil Service Commission |
2,630 |
4,274 |
|
22. |
Office of the Minister for Justice |
10,650 |
18,800 |
|
24. |
Prisons |
378,000 |
1,134,000 |
|
(Estimated) |
|||
|
25. |
Courts |
10,600 |
18,000 |
|
26. |
Land Registry and Registry of Deeds |
43,000 |
77,900 |
|
27. |
Charitable Donations and Bequests |
518 |
862 |
|
28. |
Local Government |
10,996 |
17,976 |
|
29. |
Office of the Minister for Education |
37,110 |
54,079 |
|
35. |
National Gallery |
11,671 |
19,520 |
|
36. |
Lands |
6,000 |
10,300 |
|
37. |
Forestry |
34,786 |
45,945 |
|
38. |
Roinn na Gaeltachta |
144 |
215 |
|
39. |
Agriculture |
248,496 |
408,572 |
|
40. |
Fisheries |
1,284 |
2,232 |
|
41. |
Labour |
9,582 |
14,227 |
|
42. |
Industry and Commerce |
40,863 |
70,470 |
|
43. |
Transport and Power |
103,276 |
299,655 |
|
44. |
Posts and Telegraphs |
3,841,617 |
7,920,000 |
|
(see Note 3) |
|||
|
45. |
Defence |
18,712 |
41,333 |
|
47. |
Foreign Affairs |
3,830 |
4,994 |
|
49. |
Social Welfare |
226,352 |
304,137 |
|
50. |
Health |
3,095 |
4,423 |
|
TOTAL |
6,160,429 |
12,385,669 |
Notes
1. Hours and costs have been rounded to nearest whole number in all cases.
2. Hours quoted are "grossed up" hours i.e. the equivalent in flat time of actual hours worked.
3. Some hours of unpaid overtime are included in the total. It is not possible to determine precisely the number of such hours in the time available but they are negligible by comparison with the total figure.
(b) Public Service (excluding Civil Service)
For budgetary purposes, the Public Service (excluding the Civil Service) is defined as comprising Teachers, Defence Force personnel, Gardaí and Health Board staffs.
Overtime payments are not made to Teachers or Defence Force personnel; civilian employees attached to the Defence Force worked approximately 61,000 hours overtime in 1976 at a cost of £111,441. Details of overtime worked by the other categories during 1976 are as follows:—
|
Category |
Number of hours of payable overtime worked during 1976 |
Cost |
|
£ |
||
|
Gardaí |
1,676,000 (Estimated) |
5,030,000 |
|
Health Board Staffs |
673,848 |
981,714 |
PART 2
It would not generally be appropriate to relate overtime working to potential posts. Normally, overtime is only undertaken when it is seen as the most effective method of coping with peaks of work and where it would be impractical to take on extra staff. In the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, for example, where the incidence of overtime is high, substantial regular overtime is required to cater for the sorting of the evening mail which is concentrated within a limited period each day; similar, though smaller peaks, arise daily at other offices of the Department. Where overtime arises because of vacancies, all reasonable steps are taken to fill such vacancies as quickly as possible.
As a general rule, overtime working is closely monitored to ensure that its cost is kept as low as possible consistent with the need to discharge urgent and necessary work. Every effort is made to reduce the incidence of overtime where appropriate.