Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 February 2013
622. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of new recruits to the Irish Prison Service over the past 12 months; the number anticipated to be recruited in the next six months; and the number of applicants currently at each stage of the recruitment process. [5115/13]
View answerI can inform the Deputy that the Irish Prison Service has not recruited any new Recruit Prison Officers in the past 12 months. It has however recruited fifty-eight Prison Administration and Support Officers (PASO) from within existing Civil Service resources as part of its commitment to the Public Service Agreement 2010 - 2014. The purpose of this exercise is to reduce costs by replacing trained prison grade staff who were performing administrative duties with a new dedicated administrative grade at a reduced salary. The Irish Prison Service has also recruited one Psychologist grade 2 in the past 12 months.
As the Deputy will be aware the overall staffing level in the Public Service is determined within the context of the moratorium on staffing levels with particular regard to the Employment Control Frameworks currently in place. Meeting our challenging numbers target will require continued implementation of the moratorium on recruitment save in exceptional cases where filling of essential posts is required, the filling of which is subject to prior approval by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. There are no immediate plans to recruit additional Recruit Prison Officers. The Director General of the Irish Prison Service anticipates recruitment of up to 7 Nurse Officers and 4 Doctors within the next 6 months. In addition, the Service is currently interviewing for additional PASO grades, again from within existing Civil Service resources. It is anticipated that up to 40 of these PASO grades will be recruited within the next 6 months.
I can also inform the Deputy that there are currently 503 candidates remaining on a panel who have passed phase 1 (aptitude test) of the existing Recruit Prison Officer recruitment process but who have yet to be called to stage 2. This competition was run in 2008. A further 77 candidates have passed phase 2 (interview) of the process and have been placed on a panel in anticipation of further recruitment, subject to pre-employment checks.
