Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 2 Apr 1992

Vol. 418 No. 2

Written Answers. - Public Service Numbers.

Séamus Pattison

Question:

37 Mr. Pattison asked the Minister for Finance if he will give details for each of the years 1981 to 1991 inclusive of (a) the total numbers employed, (b) the total pay bill and (c) the total pensions bill in the various sectors of the public service such as education, health, local authorities, Garda, Army, Civil Service and non-commercial semi-State bodies.

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

The information requested by the Deputy, in so far as it is available is as follows:

Numbers employed.

The numbers employed in the public service for the years 1981-91 inclusive is as follows:

Public Service Employment (as at 1 January)

	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
Civil Service (including Industrials)	35,304	34,668	34,060	32,859	32,089	32,435
Garda Síochána	9,882	9,943	10,831	11,232	11,387	11,396
Defence Forces (Including Civilians)	16,365	17,912	16,788	16,228	15,880	16,274
Education	51,000	52,500	53,200	53,600	54,100	54,000
Non-Com. State Bodies	8,760	9,555	9,448	9,451	9,439	9,375
Health Services	66,197	63,694	62,294	62,600	62,503	61,997
Local Authorities	32,505	32,615	33,063	32,490	32,566	32,804
Total Public Service	220,013	220,887	219,684	218,460	217,964	218,281

Public Service Employment (as at 1 January)

	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
Civil Service (including Industrials)	31,558	31,934	28,822	28,582	29,132
Garda Síochána	11,382	11,109	10,749	10,900	11,128
Defence Forces (Including Civilians)	15,500	14,943	14,916	14,361	14,740
Education	54,500	54,403	51,992	51,006	51,654
Non-Com. State Bodies	9,193	8,770	7,842	7,115	7,080
Health Services	61,551	56,955	55,312	57,406	58,737
Local Authorities	32,383	30,252	26,892	26,468	26,681
Total Public Service	216,067	208,366	196,525	195,838	199,152

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill.

The Exchequer pay and pensions bill covers the actual cost to the Exchequer of the pay and pensions of civil servants, the Permanent Defence Forces, gardaí and teachers and varying amounts are included for pay in grants to health boards and other health agencies, noncommercial State-sponsored bodies and third level colleges.

In relation to parts (b) and (c) of the question, the sectoral breakdown sought by the Deputy is not available for the years 1981-86. A sectoral breakdown is, however, available for the years 1987-91 and this is set out for each year in Tables B-F which I am circulating with this reply. The "Other Areas" category shown on the tables refers mainly to the pay of Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, and some field staff of the Central Statistics Office.

A breakdown of the Exchequer pay and pensions bill between pay and pensions for the years 1981-91 inclusive, is set out in the following table. In order to have a consistent series, the pay expenditure for the former Department of Posts and Telegraphs has been excluded.

Because of the impact of technical factors, i.e. factors other than increases in numbers of pay rates, such as annual increments, or the size of the Exchequer pay and pensions bill, year on year comparisons of the bill should be treated with caution.

The pay of local authority staff is not included in the Exchequer pay and pensions bill. The pay costs of civilian Defence Forces personnel are included in the following industrial Civil Service pay figures.

TABLE A.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1981 to 1991.

Year	Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill	Pay only	Pensions only
	£m	£m	£m
1981	1,729	1,625	104
1982	1,982	1,849	133
1983	2,175	2,044	131
1984	2,335	2,186	149
1985	2,500	2,345	155
1986	2,625	2,497	128
1987	2,759	2,565	194*
1988	2,845	2,545	300*
1989	2,914	2,663	251*
1990	3,160	2,913	247*
1991	3,406	3,138(e)	268(e)

Notes

(e) Estimate.

* Includes provision for payment under the public service early retirement/voluntary redundancy schemes.

TABLE B.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1987.

	Pay	Pensions	Totals
	£m	£m	£m
Civil Service	410	55	465
Civil Service (Industrials)	36	inc. above	36
Education Sector	830	33	863
Garda Síochána	206	32	238
Defence Forces (excl. Civilians)	173	40	213
Health Sector	797	24	821
State Bodies	105	(inc. in pay)	105
Other Areas	8	2	10
	2,565	186	2,751
Early Retirement			8
Grand Totals			2,759

TABLE C.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1988.

	Pay	Pensions	Totals
	£m	£m	£m
Civil Service	401	55	456
Civil Service (Industrials)	34	inc. above	34
Education Sector	839	43	882
Garda Síochána	203	34	237
Defence Forces (excl. Civilians)	180	43	223
Health Sector	780	28	808
State Bodies	98	(inc. in pay)	98
Other Areas	10	1	11
	2,545	204	2,749
Early Retirement			96
Grand Totals			2,845

TABLE D.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1989.

	Pay	Pensions	Totals
	£m	£m	£m
Civil Service	409	67	476
Civil Service (Industrials)	34	inc. above	34
Education Sector	892	53	945
Garda Síochána	209	37	246
Defence Forces (excl. Civilians)	186	44	230
Health Sector	824	30	854
State Bodies	99	(inc. in pay)	99
Other Areas	10	2	12
	2,663	233	2,896
Early Retirement			18
Grand Totals			2,914

TABLE E.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1990.

	Pay	Pensions	Totals
	£m	£m	£m
Civil Service	450	66	516
Civil Service (Industrials)	37	inc. above	37
Education Sector	930	54	984
Garda Síochána	228	35	263
Defence Forces (excl. Civilians)	224	45	269
Health Sector	936	31	967
State Bodies	98	9	107
Other Areas	10	2	12
	2,913	242	3,155
Early Retirement			5
Grand Totals			3,160

TABLE F.

Exchequer Pay and Pensions Bill 1991.

Provisional Breakdown

	Pay	Pensions	Totals
	£m	£m	£m
Civil Service	500	72	572
Civil Service (Industrials)	39	inc. above	39
Education Sector	933	58	991
Garda Síochána	247	41	288
Defence Forces (excl. Civilians)	239	52	291
Health Sector	1,043	36	1,079
State Bodies	121	7	128
Other Areas	16	2	18
	3,138	268	3,406
Early Retirement			0
Grand Totals			3,406