Vol. 398 No. 1
132 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Energy if, since 1989, any former State employees have been engaged, either permanently or on contract, by his Department; and if so, if he will give (i) their names, (ii) the terms of their employment or contract, (iii) the salary being paid to them and (iv) the pension, if any, payable to them from the State.
Since 1989 one former employee of my Department has been re-employed on a short-term consultancy basis in relation to an offshore petroleum exploration assignment.
Bearing in mind the very sensitive, security, strategic and commercial considerations involved in relation to the resources in the case of my Department, I am satisfied that it is necessary to follow the practice of successive Ministers for Energy in asserting that it would not be in the national interest to publish the identity of consultants employed in particular assignments and details of contracts involved.
As the former employee had only three years' employment in the public service, he did not qualify for a pension on leaving this Department.
