In response to the Deputy’s question the Public Appointments Service (PAS), in the course of running recruitment competitions for the public service, avails, inter alia, of trained and experienced retired public servants as interviewers, assessors and as decisions arbitrators. At any given time, PAS would have approximately sixty active on their database that would be used from time to time for short periods. For this work, retired members are paid on a fee-per-day basis and are subject to tax and other relevant deductions. The fees are linked to pre-retirement grades and take account of the principle of pension abatement. These positions are not advertised but any trained professionals can apply to PAS to be placed on the data base for our selection boards. The total cost for these services in 2012 was €385,856.67.
The outgoing Chairman of the Public Appointments Service Board, who is a former Civil Servant, was reappointed by me in September 2011 and is paid a stipend €11,970 per annum. The Chairperson of the PAS Internal Audit Committee is also former Public Servant and was paid a fee of €2,137.50 in 2012. She was appointed by the former Chief Executive of PAS on the basis of her experience in the area of corporate governance.
The Office of Public Works has engaged the services of a former member of staff for the period of the EU Presidency. This person was selected because of previous experience of EU Presidencies and other important events. The abatement principle was considered to be a cost effective way of contributing to the smooth running of all EU Presidency events in Dublin Castle. The cost of his services is approximately €28,000. There are no other retired public sector workers currently on my Department's payroll.
