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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Feb 2000

Vol. 514 No. 5

Other Questions. - Departmental Staff.

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

8 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Defence the number of civil servants in his Department in each of the years from 1995 to date; the grades and numbers involved in dealing with deafness compensation cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4629/00]

The number of civil servants in my Department at the end of each of the years from 1995 to date is as follows – 1995 – 436; 1996 – 423; 1997 – 425; 1998 – 431; 1999 – 434.

There are 34 posts in the claims branch in my Department, the branch dealing with deafness compensation claims, in the following grades: Principal, 1; Assistant Principal, 2; Higher Executive Officer, 7; Executive Officer, 1; Staff Officer, 2; Clerical Officer, 12.

Where will these people work when the deafness compensation tribunal is established? Will they remain within the Department of Defence or will they relocate to the compensation tribunal? In view of the fact that Defence Forces numbers have been cut back in recent years, are there any plans to cut back the number of civilian personnel once Army deafness is dealt with?

The White Paper proposes a 10% reduction in the number of civil servants in the Department of Defence. It is too early to suggest where the personnel dealing with claims will be located as there is still an enormous corpus of work to be completed on the remaining 10,000 claims which are outstanding. As soon as we have moved to a successful out of court scheme, we can begin to consider that matter.

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