Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 1 Jul 1999

Vol. 507 No. 4

Written Answers. - Prison Staff.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

204 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners, having advertised for prison officer trades in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform competition A for carpenters, only short-listed 28 for interview having received 116 applications; and the reason the remaining applicants were not given the opportunity to present themselves at interview. [17007/99]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

Firstly, I would like to remind the Deputy that recruitment to the prison service is by way of open competition which is conducted by the Civil Service and Local Appointment Commission, which is an independent body and as such I have no involvement in the selection process.

However, having made inquiries into this matter, I understand that normally the number of applications received far exceeds that required to fill the vacancies advertised and it is not practical to interview everyone. For this reason the Civil Service and Local Appointment Commissioners use a shortlisting process to select a group for interview, having regard to the nature of the job, the number of vacancies, current and projected, and the skills and experience of candidates. Shortlisting is typically based on an assessment of the application forms by an expert board having regard to the requirements of the position.

In this case, 116 applications were received; 94 of these were deemed eligible and satisfied the qualification requirements of the competition regulations. Having examined all application forms in turn and having assessed the relative merits of each application against the criteria, the board recommended that 28 of the 94 be invited for interview.

There are currently seven vacancies for carpenters in the prison service; in recommending that the 28 applicants be invited to attend to interview, the board took account of the current and future vacancy situation in the grade over the next 18 months.