asked the Minister for Finance if he will state, in respect of each of the years 1946 and 1947: (a) the number of civil servants (i) established, and (ii) unestablished permitted or obliged to remain in the public service after having attained the age of 65 years; (b) the Departments in which they were serving and the posts held by them when they attained the age of 65 years; (c) the grounds on which such persons were retained in the public service after having reached the retiring age; and (d) the total period of the extension granted in each case.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Service Extensions.
I would refer the Deputy to my reply, which occupied 37 columns of the Official Report, to a question on similar lines which he addressed to me on the 23rd October, 1946. I am not prepared to give instructions for the compilation after such a relatively short interval of the elaborate particulars supplied on that occasion as I do not consider that the information afforded would warrant the entirely disproportionate expenditure of time and labour entailed.
The general practice governing the retirement of civil servants when they attain 65 years of age is as follows:—
In no circumstances is any officer obliged to remain in service if he wishes to retire. Established civil servants are exceptionally retained only if their retirement involves serious disservice to the public interest, and the period of their retention is strictly limited to the time within which suitable alternative arrangements can be made to provide for their replacement. In very exceptional cases where retirement involves serious financial hardship retention is agreed to for a restricted period. Unestablished civil servants are treated more leniently but satisfactory evidence of hardship must be produced before retention is authorised.