Mary O'Rourke
Ceist:64 Mrs. O'Rourke asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider the case of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly who wishes to re-enter the Civil Service. [4110/97]
Written Answers. - Re-entry to Civil Service.
In general, entry to the Civil Service must be by way of open competition. Section 11 of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956, as amended by the Civil Service (Employment of Married Women) Act, 1973 provided for the reinstatement to their former positions of women who resigned from the Civil Service for marriage-related reasons and who fulfilled specific criteria. The person concerned applied for reinstatement under the statutory provisions but did not qualify for reinstatement. The Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act, 1996, repealed the statutory provisions and, consequently, the only avenue of re-entry to the Civil Service now open to the person concerned is by competing in and being successful at an open competition run by the Civil Service Commissioners.
To alleviate the consequences of the repeal of the reinstatement scheme, the next two series of clerical assistant and executive officer competitions will include provision for special subpanels which will be composed solely of former civil servants but will not differentiate on grounds of gender or marital status. It is hoped that this initiative will go some way towards facilitating the re-entry to the Civil Service of women, such as the person concerned, who resigned on marriage. As the Deputy is aware, competitions for recruitment to the Civil Service are run by the Civil Service Commissioners and are advertised in the daily papers from time to time. It is envisaged that competitions for appointment as executive officer and clerical assistant will be advertised during the year.