asked the Minister for the Public Service if it is his intention to implement part time work in Departments and the areas in which he considers it desirable to have part time working.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Public Service Part Time Work.
18.
The Government's intention in regard to part time working is set out in paragraph 7.10 of the White Paper Serving the Country Better.
That paragraph states that "studies will be carried out to identify areas where it would be more economical to have work performed on a part time rather than a full time basis". Those studies are at present under way.
Would the Minister have any further information? This matter was mentioned in the White Paper so there must have been some examination in detail. What Departments were involved and would these be people who were former civil servants and retired or perhaps left the public service on marriage and would be taken back for a number of hours per day? There must be some basis for putting this into the White Paper.
First, a number of administrations other than ours employ part time workers extensively from time to time. Our main purpose in including this provision was that where work of a temporary or seasonal nature may arise, where a particular pressure may emerge for a section or a block of workers within a Department which pressure is not of a permanent nature, it might be better carried out by part time workers. We had no specific area in mind but merely wanted to indicate that we felt flexibility ought to be adopted in the future to allow that type of worker to be recruited.
One of the things which all employers will have to do in the future in relation to endeavouring to share the available amount of work as widely as possible is to hang fairly loose in their approach towards different types of employment, hours of work and so on. It was merely from that point of view that we endeavoured to cover as wide a range of possibilities as possible in that section of the White Paper.
Is the Minister thinking of work in addition to overtime, or would it be in lieu of the fairly substantial sums of money at present being spent on overtime, or has the Minister no fixed view on that as of yet?
Quite frankly, I have not any more fixed view, except that obviously where it was identified that part time staff might be utilised, it would be obviously on the basis that, from the Government's point of view, it would be more economical and would be providing an additional amount of employment for some extra people, if merely on a part time basis. I would assume that in that case usually the part time employees would by personal choice have opted to have sought part time employment.