Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 Oct 1992

Vol. 423 No. 1

Written Answers. - Public Sector Employment.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

128 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the number of people employed in the public sector on 31 December in each of the years from 1980 to 1992 in each of the following categories (a) non-industrial civil servants (b) industrial civil servants (c) local authority officers, including health boards and vocational education committees but excluding vocational teachers (d) local authority servants as in (c) above (e) national teachers (f) secondary teachers (g) vocational teachers (h) community teachers (i) comprehensive teachers (j) universities (k) other third level education (l) non-commercial State companies and agencies (m) commercial State companies and (n) other parts of the public sector.

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

Statistical data on the numbers serving in each area of the Public Sector are generally available in respect of 1 January for each of the years in question. The information sought by the Deputy is set out on this basis in the following tabular statement. Figures for part-time employees have been converted to whole-time equivalents.

	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992
(a) Non-Industrial Civil Servants	30,635	32,135	31,420	30,950	30,371	29,489	29,385	29,273	28,984	26,936	26,700	27,303	27,989
(b) Industrial Civil Servants	3,159	3,169	3,248	3,110	2,488	2,600	2,250	2,185	2,250	1,886	1,882	1,830	1,851
(c) Officers
Local Authority	8,796	8,767	9,309	9,587	9,792	10,082	10,103	9,956	9,435	8,728	8,759	8,939	9,098
Health Boards (i)	—	—	—	—	—	—	25,613	25,995	24,152	24,386	24,970	27,226	27,868
Vocational Educ. Committees	828	828	815	831	831	806	795	795	739	771	804	858	886
(d) Servants
Local Authority	22,932	23,738	23,306	23,476	22,698	22,484	22,701	22,427	20,817	18,164	17,709	17,742	17,617
Health Boards (i)	—	—	—	—	—	—	12,389	12,573	11,682	11,795	12,064	10,793	10,730
Vocational Educ. Committees	1,498	1,454	1,456	1,439	1,436	1,428	1,437	1,437	1,399	1,357	1,355	1,380	1,329
(e) National Teachers	19,002	19,480	19,775	20,356	20,603	20,884	21,087	21,161	21,145	20,398	20,265	20,484	20,688
— 1st Level — Non-Teaching (ii)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	816	823
(f) Secondary Teachers	11,740	11,896	12,056	11,900	11,902	12,030	12,112	11,958	11,698	11,630	11,550	11,536	11,910
(g) Vocational Teachers	4,896	4,925	5,196	5,021	5,104	5,242	5,389	5,375	5,221	5,267	5,379	5,239	5,604
(h) Community Teachers	1,153	1,318	1,480	1,597	1,640	1,734	1,777	1,809	1,819	1,786	1,946	1,987	1,997
(i) Comprehensive Teachers	531	538	541	521	536	520	533	528	518	507	512	515	514
— 2nd Level Non-Teaching (excl vocational education committees)
(ii)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	217	216
(j) Universities	4,937	5,097	3,980	4,036	4,049	4,036	4,002	4,233	3,998	4,683	4,851	5,444	5,576
— VEC 3rd Level Teachers (ii)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2,562	2,813
(k) Other 3rd Level Educ.	4,515	5,464	7,201	7,499	7,499	7,420	6,868	7,204	7,866	5,593	4,644	750	679
(l) Non-Commercial State Companies and Agencies	6,900	8,760	9,555	9,448	9,451	9,439	9,375	9,193	8,770	7,842	7,115	7,080	7,717
(m) Commercial State Companies (iii)	90,375	90,370	92,956	91,395	88,241	85,134	82,393	78,431	77,372	73,185	72,747	71,501	65,646
(n) Other parts of the Public Sector (iv)	84,586	92,444	91,549	89,913	90,060	89,770	52,465	49,965	47,873	44,796	45,659	46,607	46,792

(i) Prior to 1986 no breakdown is available for Health Board staff; all staff employed in the Health Services prior to 1986 are therefore included in section (n).

(ii) From 1991 non-teaching and vocational education committee 3rd level teachers are categorised separately.

(iii) The figures for commercial State Bodies include the former Dept. of Posts and Telegraphs and Coillte Teo. The 1992 figure excludes Irish Life and Greencore which were privatised in 1991.

(iv) Includes Garda and Defence Forces personnel and for the period 1980 to 1985 all staff employed in the Health Services; Health Board staff are shown separately for the period 1986 to 1992.