Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 5 Dec 1996

Vol. 472 No. 5

Written Answers. - Reinstatement in Civil Service.

Mary O'Rourke

Question:

42 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Finance if he will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath in respect of which he gave a reply on 30 May 1996; when the relevant sub-panels will be set up; if these former civil servants will have to resit an examination and interview; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23610/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

As the Deputy is aware, 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 provided for the reinstatement to their former positions of women who resigned from the Civil Service for marriage-related reasons and who fulfilled specific criteria. However, the statutory provisions which provided for reinstatement have been repealed and, consequently, the only avenue of re-entry to the Civil Service now open to the person concerned is by competing in and being successful at an open competition run by the Civil Service Commissioners.

As outlined in my earlier reply, to alleviate the consequences of the repeal of the reinstatement scheme, the next two series of clerical assistant and executive officer competitions will include provision for special sub-panels which will be composed solely of former civil servants but will not differentiate on grounds of gender or marital status. Former civil servants who are candidates in these competitions and who wish to be considered for the sub-panels will, have to reach the required qualifying standard for appointment at the competitions. Clerical aptitude tests and, where necessary, skills related tests and interview are a normal feature of the clerical assistant recruitment procedures, while job realted tests and interview are a feature of the executive officer competition.

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. A competition for appointment as clerical assistant, typist, for Dublin vacancies, which provided for the special sub-Panel arrangement, was advertised in September 1996. It is envisaged that a competition for appointment as executive officer and clerical assistant will be advertised during the course of next year.