Mary O'Rourke
Question:56 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Finance if he will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath who wishes to re-enter the Civil Service. [11357/96]
Written Answers. - Reinstatement in Civil Service.
Under the terms of the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956, entry to the Civil Service must, with a few exceptions of limited application, be by way of open competition. One of those exceptions provides for the reinstatement to their former positions of women who resigned from the Civil Service for marriage-related reasons and who fulfil specific criteria. However, the reinstatement scheme has been found by the Labour Court to be contrary to the Equal Treatment Directive — which prohibits discrimination on grounds of gender or marital status — and the Court has recommended that the relevant statutory provisions be repealed. I have also received legal advice to the same effect. The necessary legislation to repeal the scheme is before the Houses of the Oireachtas at present.
In the context of repealing the reinstatement scheme, it is intended that the next two series of clerical assistant and executive officer competitions will include special sub-panels which will be composed solely of former civil servants but will not differentiate on grounds of gender or marital status. It is hoped that this initiative will go some way towards facilitating the re-entry to the Civil Service of women, such as the person concerned, who resigned on marriage. As the Deputy is aware, competitions for recruitment to the Civil Service are run by the Civil Service Commissioners and are advertised in the daily papers from time to time. In recent years the upper age limit for open competitions has been raised to 50 years of age.