Ruairí Quinn
Ceist:7 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach when the Secretary General of his Department is due to retire; the procedures which will be used to select a successor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1344/00]
Ceisteanna – Questions. - Departmental Appointments.
The Secretary General of my Department, Paddy Teahon, is due to retire on 30 April 2000. The Government, at its meeting on 25 January 2000, appointed Mr. Dermot Gallagher, Second Secretary General, Department of Foreign Affairs, to succeed Mr. Teahon as Secretary General.
While the post of Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach does not come within the remit of the top level appointments committee, the Government asked that senior officers across the Civil Service should be offered the opportunity to express an interest in being considered for the post and the posts of Secretary General to the Government and of the Department of Finance. This was done by letter from the Secretary General, public service management and development, in November.
A group consisting of the outgoing Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach, the then Secretary General to the Government and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the latter two of whom are members of TLAC, considered the officers who expressed an interest in being considered together with, at the Government's request, the officers across the Civil Service with the requisite experience and track record. Their recommendation to me, which on my proposal the Government approved on 25 January, is that Mr. Dermot Gallagher be appointed Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach from 1 May 2000.
This question was tabled prior to the announcement of 25 January. I wish to put on record my party's recognition of the quality and commitment of the people who are referred to in the Taoiseach's reply. I compliment the Government on its choices.
I wish both gentlemen well.