asked the Minister for the Public Service the total number of posts suppressed or left unfilled since the introduction of the Government's three-in-one recruitment embargo; if he has any plans to drop or modify the embargo; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Public Service Recruitment Embargo.
3.
The total number of posts left unfilled as a result of the one-inthree embargo in the non-industrial Civil Service is 2,900. The general question of the arrangements to apply in future in relation to the control of Civil Service numbers is being considered in the context of the proposed White Paper on the Public Service. The operation of the onein-three embargo is being reviewed as part of that exercise.
Would the Minister not agree that the embargo as it applies at the moment is a very blunt instrument and is causing severe shortages in some parts of the public service, particularly in the Revenue Commissioners and in the teaching and nursing areas?
First of all, I should clarify that the figure I have given in relation to the embargo applies only to the Civil Service, which is the area in which I have direct responsibility for the implementation of the embargo. I agree that the embargo is a blunt instrument and I was probably the first person to so describe it publicly. The single merit it has had in the three or four years since its introduction is that it has worked and has been effective in reducing numbers in comparison to any other scheme which was attempted previously when all such attempts were unsuccessful. It is interesting to reflect that for the first time since the Second World War the numbers of the Civil Service in real terms have reduced in the last few years. We have endeavoured where a particular need was identified to deploy staff from other areas. On one occasion during the lifetime of the embargo additional staff of the order of 110 were redeployed from other Departments to the staff of the Revenue Commissioners. The Deputy may recall having had a discussion in the House previously. It is as well also for the House to realise that the staff of the Revenue Commissioners amount to some 7,000 or almost one quarter of the total Civil Service. Obviously, from the overall numbers within the Revenue Commissioners one would hope that it should be within the compass of the management in the Revenue Commissioners to deploy staff into the areas where the need and demand are greatest at any given time.
Would the Minister agree that this blanket imposition of the embargo has caused frightful decisions to be made in some cases and that some allowance should be made for exceptional cases? Is the Minister aware that in the administrative staff of Kildare VEC the staff numbers have gone down by 13 per cent and the number of pupils and the workload have gone up by 46 per cent? Does he not agree that that is ridiculous——
That is a speech, it is not a question.
——and that the embargo should not be imposed in a case like that?
The case which the Deputy refers to falls within the aegis of the Minister for Education and I have no knowledge of the situation.
Will the Minister let me know if he is prepared to grant exceptions in exceptional cases?
The only difficulty I would envisage in that instance is that within the area which is under my remit I have yet to come across a case which is not described as being exceptional.
The Minister would probably be described as exceptional.
Thank you very much.
My question referred to the total number of posts suppressed or left unfilled. I take it the figure the Minister has given relates to civil servants in all Government Departments.
Yes.
Can the Minister give the figures for the other areas of the public service?
I do not have those figures available to me. The operation of the embargo in relation to the Civil Service is the area which has been my direct responsibility up to now. I would suggest to the Deputy that if he is anxious to obtain the figures in relation to other areas of the wider public service he should address questions to the relevant Minister in each case.