asked the Minister for Finance if he will explain the difference between the figure of 33,975 stated to be the strength of the Civil Service in reply to a question on 10th April, 1951, and the figure of 48,300 given in reply to a question on 13th February, 1952, as the total numbers of State employees exclusive of the Defence Forces.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Service Strength.
The figure of 33,975 given in reply to Deputy Lynch's question as to the numbers of civil servants was the total at 2nd January, 1950, of the staff regarded as comprising the Civil Service. It was indicated in the reply that this figure did not include persons employed on relief schemes, persons employed on a fee basis or artisans, labourers, etc., employed on works of a temporary nature other than relief schemes, who are not regarded as civil servants. The total number of civil servants serving on 1st January, 1951, was 35,287.
Deputy Larkin was furnished, in reply to his question, with the total number of persons, exclusive of members of the Defence Forces, employed by the State. It is obvious that persons employed by the State are in a much wider category than persons employed in the Civil Service. Persons employed by the State include the Garda Síochána. They also include the fee-paid groups and the artisan and labouring classes which I have already mentioned, who have never been regarded as part of the Civil Service as normally understood. The addition of the Garda Síochána and these fee-paid and other classes, together with the growth in the meantime of the Civil Service proper to 35,287, explains the difference between the two figures mentioned by the Deputy.