I propose to take Questions Nos. 106, 107 and 109 together.
On the issues raised by the Deputy regarding pay bill trends over time and the scale of the numbers reductions across different Government Departments and agencies I refer the Deputy, in the first instance, to my Department's web site, at http://databank.per.gov.ie. Here the Deputy will find comprehensive data on all Government Departments on expenditure - both pay and non-pay - as well as the corresponding staffing levels and trends for the years in question up until end 2013. It shows that there has been a ten percent reduction in Public Service Numbers over the last five years, from a peak of around 320,000 in 2008 to just under 288,000 at end 2013. Over the period from 2009 to 2013, the pay bill has been reduced from a peak of €17.5 billion to €14.1 billion, net of the pension related deduction.
On the matter of the impact of retirement across the public service in the years ahead, this is something that public service managers deal with and manage every year in the normal course of events, and there will continue to be scope to recruit or redeploy existing staff, taking account of existing number and pay ceilings, to address service delivery issues that may arise from retirements. The identification of areas that are perhaps more sensitive or exposed to retirement in the coming years and responding to that is a matter for sectoral managers across the public service. To support them in this are the new more flexible work conditions and additional hours provided for in the Haddington Road Agreement and initiatives such as the workforce planning framework, which my Department has supported and which provides for medium term staff resource planning.
