Vol. 396 No. 1
98 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance whether an extension of the career breaks scheme has been sanctioned for civil servants; the date on which the new scheme will commence; if he will give details of those who will qualify for the scheme; the conditions of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Career breaks are available in the Civil Service for child rearing and certain other domestic purposes — e.g. care of a sick relative — as well as for educational reasons. It has been decided to extend the scheme's scope to include career breaks for purposes of travel abroad as soon as sufficient resources are available to replace staff taking career breaks. The availability of replacement staff is dependent on the completion of competitions for the major recruitment grades currently underway or planned. It is envisaged that this recruitment process will be sufficiently advanced to permit the extension of the scheme to take effect in the autumn of this year. Career breaks are available to all civil servants who have completed their probation and have not reached the minimum retirement age other than certain specialist groups — e.g. computer staff — from whom career breaks are withheld because of the needs of the work.
The other main conditions of the scheme are as follows. A career break is a period of special leave without pay and may be granted for between one and five years; a career break may be extended in six monthly periods or in periods in excess of six months provided the total period of the career break does not exceed five years in all; and officers wishing to return from career breaks are guaranteed reemployment in a relevant grade within the Civil Service — but not necessarily within their existing organisation — within a period of 12 months of the date on which they planned to return to work.
