asked the Minister for the Public Service if there is any foundation to the allegations made in a newspaper report (details supplied); and, if so, how these are compatible with the undertaking given in the national plan on public sector reform.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Public Service Reform.
21.
In my reply on 26 June 1984 to a question from Deputy Mac Giolla on the operation of the new procedures for the appointment of senior civil servants I made it quite clear that the function of the Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) is purely an advisory one. The statutory power of appointment remains with the Government, in the case of Secretaries of Departments, or with the appropriate Minister, with my sanction as Minister for the Public Service, in the case of other appointments.
In the case referred to in The Irish Times of 3 November 1984 the Top Level Appointments Committee were asked to, and made a recommendation on the filling of a post of Assistant Secretary in the Department of Defence. The acceptance or otherwise of this recommendation is entirely a matter for the Minister for Defence.
Do the Top Level Appointments Committee receive the names from the Civil Service Commission, short-list them and leave the final say to the Minister? If so, what is the normal short list? Do they give the Minister the option of choosing from three, ten, 20 or more?
When a position becomes vacant it is advertised, normally internally, by the Top Level Appointments Committee. Candidates apply to the committee and the committee can then decide whether they need to engage in a short-listing process. In their initial period the committee have chosen to use the services of the Civil Service Commission to conduct interviews and to do short-listing for them. The persons on that short list are then interviewed by the Top Level Appointments Committee who recommend one name. In certain cases the services of the commission have not been availed of and the committee themselves have carried out the short-listing and conducted the interviews, but in every case the procedure culminates in the recommendation of one and only one name.