Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 1996

Vol. 471 No. 1

Written Answers. - Public Service Employment.

Desmond J. O'Malley

Ceist:

21 Mr. O'Malley asked the Minister for Finance the controls, quotas or replacement ratios currently in existence to curtail growth in the total number of persons in the public service; and if he will make a statement of their effectiveness. [20311/96]

Mary Harney

Ceist:

37 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons currently employed in the public service; the number employed in October 1996; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20310/96]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 37 together. The total number of people employed in the public service on 1 January 1996 was 215,467. This is the latest date for which figures are compiled for the public service as a whole.

In the Civil Service there are agreements between my Department and other Departments on staffing levels to be achieved by 1 July 1997. Additional posts may only be created by specific Government decision. While the numbers in the Civil Service grew in the first half of 1995, numbers fell in the corresponding period this year, and this trend continued in the quarter to end-September.

The Government decided in July 1995 that a total of 350 additional posts were fillable in the education sector for the 1996/97 academic year. The number of posts at first and second level will be determined by pupil numbers in accordance with the relevant pupil teacher ratios. The number of posts at third level will be determined by the budgetary allocation for 1997.

In the health sector, the Government decided in June 1995 that there would be an increase of the order of 600 in 1996, in line with a slower rate of development in this sector this year. Numbers in the sector in 1997 will depend on the allocations decided in the 1997 Health Estimate.

The Government decided in July last that a further 400 gardaí should be recruited by end-1997 and a further 211 civilians by early 1997 as part of its anti-crime package.

Under a plan agreed by the Government in March of this year, numbers in the Defence Forces are to be reduced by about 1,300 to 11,500 over three years. To facilitate this policy, a voluntary early retirement scheme has been introduced.

The position in the various parts of the public service that I have outlined shows that there is a consistent policy to contain overall public service numbers, to agree to increases only where there is a compelling social or economic case for doing so, and to reduce numbers where this is feasible.