Departmental Staff Rehiring

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 February 2013

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Questions (65)

Eoghan Murphy

Question:

65. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if there are any retired public sector workers from his Department, or any other part of the public sector, currently on his Department's payroll, for example, for sitting on a committee or preparing a report, but not exclusively these two areas; the number on the payroll; the cost to his Department; the services being delivered for the money; and the way that the positions were originally advertised. [6266/13]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Details are set out in the following table of the retired officials of my Department who are currently contracted to the Department:

GRADE	POSITION HELD	DURATION	COST 2012 / 2013
Assistant Secretary	Passport Appeals Officer	Three-year contract from 20 January 2012 to deal with appeals as and when they arise	Dependent on the number of appeals processed (no costs incurred in 2012)
Counsellor	To assist in preparations for the Irish Presidency of the European Union in January-June 2013	Contract from 1 May 2012 to 30 June 2013	€8,866 in 2012
Temporary Clerical Officer	Presidency position	Contract from 7 January to 12 July 2013	€13,136
Temporary Clerical Officer	Presidency position	Contract from 17 September 2012 to 7 February 2013	€12,220

The temporary Clerical Officers were recruited through an open competition organised by the Public Appointments Service (PAS).

My Department’s Development Cooperation Division also occasionally engages a small number of retired staff for short duration specialist consultancy projects connected with the activities of Irish Aid.

The policy of my Department regarding the re-engagement of retired officials is to do so to the minimum extent possible. However, for certain once-off or short-duration projects, it is more productive and cost-effective to re-engage retired staff who already have the relevant expertise and experience than to go through a time-consuming and relatively expensive recruitment, induction and training process. Where it occurs, retired staff are usually re-engaged on a pension abatement basis, which means in effect that they continue to receive their pensions and are paid correspondingly reduced salaries by the Department.

The records currently available to my Department do not enable me to respond in full as regards retired public sector workers currently employed. However, under the provisions of the Public Service Pensions (Single Schemes & Other Provisions) Act 2012, new employees are required to declare if they are in receipt of, or entitled to, a pension from previous service in the public sector.