Written Answers. - Civil Service. – Dáil Éireann (28th Dáil) – Thursday, 30 Nov 2000

Written Answers. - Civil Service.

Ulick Burke

Ceist:

32 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Finance the numbers of persons who have left the Civil Service within the past six months; the grades worst affected by this trend; the numbers recruited within the past six months; the shortfall in the various Departments; and the grades at which these vacancies occur. [27889/00]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

My Department obtains figures in relation to Civil Service numbers from all Departments and offices on a quarterly basis and verifies these before publication. The verification of the September figures has not yet been completed. Accordingly, the figures presented below are based on end-June 2000 returns. In the period between January and June, 564 officers left the Civil Service. During the same period 1,463 were recruited to various grades.

(i) Numbers leaving the Civil Service between January and June 2000.

The numbers leaving are broken down into the following grades and set out against total numbers in those grades at 30 June 2000:

	Numbers serving at 30 June 2000	Numbers leaving in six month period January to June 2000
Secretary General	17	6
Second Secretary	5	1
Assistant Secretary	107	1
Principal	433	7
Assistant Principal	1,178	8
Administrative Officer	135	3
Higher ExecutiveOfficer	2,128	18
Executive Officer	2,893	48
Staff Officer	1,172	9
Clerical Officer	9,604	280
Service Officer	527	23
Service Attendant	110	2
Others	12,625	158
Total	30,934	564

The reasons for leaving are as follows: 386 resigned; 139 retired; 12 died; and 27 left for reasons other than the above, for example, temporary staff completing a fixed contract.

While I have included a comprehensive list of the numbers by grade in each Department and office for Deputy Burke's information, the main Departments concerned are as follows:

Revenue Commissioners	131 (1 Principal; 5 APs; 7 HEOs; 9 EOs; 72 COs; 37 Others)
Justice Equality and Law Reform	87 (1 Second Secretary; 1 HEO; 8 EOs; 1 SO; 58 COs; 18 Others)
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	59 (2 HEO; 6 EO; 4 SOs; 19 COs; 28 Others)
Social Community and Family Affairs	29 (2 Principals; 1 HEO; 2 EOs; 19 COs; 5 Others)
Foreign Affairs	25 (1 AP; 1 HEO; 2 Third Secretaries; 5 EOs; 11 COs; 5 Others)
Enterprise Trade and Employment	22 (1 Principal; 1 AP; 3 EO; 10 COs; 7 Others)
Environment and Local Government	21 (1 Assistant Secretary; 3 HEOs; 1 AO; 3 EOs; 6 COs; 7 Others)

Number of persons who left the Civil Service, by grade, between 1 January 2000 and 30 June 2000

	Sec.Gen.	Sec.Sec.	Ass.Sec.	PO	AP	AO	HEO	EO	SO	CO	Serv.Off.	Serv.Att.	Other	Total
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	4	19	0	0	28	59
Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	10	15
Attorney General	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	5
CSO	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	8	0	0	2	13
Chief State Solicitor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	9	16
Civil Service Commission	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	9	0	0	0	12
C&AG	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	7
Courts Service	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	7	0	0	5	16
Defence	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2
Education and Science	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	6	0	0	5	14
Enterprise, Trade and Employment	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	10	0	0	7	22
Environment and Local Government	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	3	0	6	1	0	6	21
Finance	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	8	2	0	0	15
Foreign Affairs	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5	0	11	0	0	7	25
Health and Children	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	6	0	0	4	13
Justice Equality and Law Reform	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	8	1	58	3	0	15	87
Marine and Natural Resources	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	0	0	9
OPW	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	2	6
Oireachtas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	3	0	2	10
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Ordnance Survey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4
Public Enterprise	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	1	5	13
Revenue Commissioners	0	0	0	1	5	0	7	9	1	72	2	1	33	131
Social Community and Family Affairs	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	2	1	19	2	0	2	29
State Laboratory	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Taoiseach	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	2	0	1	12
Tourism Sport and Recreation	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4
Valuation Office	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2
Total	6	1	1	7	8	3	18	48	9	280	23	2	158	564

(ii) Numbers recruited between January and June 2000:

These figures are again based on the end-June returns received by my Department. The total number entering the Civil Service in the period January to June 2000 was 1,463. This includes a total of 541 recruited on a short-term basis to replace staff availing of term time leave of absence. The total 1,463 is broken down into the following grades: ten administrative officers; 60 executive officers; 1123 clerical officers; 24 service officers; 24 service attendants; 222 others.

I have included a comprehensive list for Deputy Burke's information. The main Departments concerned are as follows:

Revenue Commissioners	382 (4 EOs; 352 COs; 26 Others) – including 214 to replace Term Time staff
Social Community & Family Affairs	267 (2 EOs; 256 COs; 9 Others) – including 192 to replace Term Time staff
Agriculture & Food	171 (6 EO; 129 COs; 36 Others) – including 114 to replace Term Time staff
Justice Equality & Law Reform	165 (16 EOs; 134 COs; 15 Others)
Arts Heritage Gaeltacht & the Islands	61 (3 EOs; 17 COs; 41 Others) – including 4 to replace Term Time staff
Central Statistics Office	60 (1 EO; 53 COs; 6 Others)
Foreign Affairs	48 (7 EOs; 28 COs; 13 Others)

Number of new recruits from 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2000

	AO	EO	CO	ServiceOfficer	ServiceAttendant	Other	Total
Agriculture, Food and RuralDevelopment	0	6	129	0	0	36	171
Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands	0	3	17	1	2	38	61
Attorney General	0	0	5	0	0	1	6
Central Statistics Office	0	1	53	0	2	4	60
Chief State Solicitor	0	0	7	0	0	12	19
Civil Service Commission	0	3	18	0	2	0	23
Comptroller and Auditor General	0	0	1	0	0	16	17
Defence	0	1	0	0	0	1	2
Education and Science	0	3	7	0	1	4	15
Enterprise Trade and Employment	0	1	30	0	0	4	35
Environment and Local Government	3	6	11	0	7	1	28
Finance	4	2	13	1	1	0	21
Foreign Affairs	0	7	28	2	1	10	48
Health and Children	0	0	21	0	0	6	27
Justice Equality and Law Reform	0	16	134	6	0	9	165
Marine and Natural Resources	0	0	11	0	1	6	18
Office of Public Works	0	1	0	0	0	31	32
Oireachtas	0	0	2	1	0	0	3
Ombudsman	0	2	2	0	0	0	4
Ordnance Survey	0	0	1	0	0	2	3
Public Enterprise	0	1	14	4	0	6	25
Revenue Commissioners	0	4	352	2	4	20	382
Social Community and Family Affairs	0	2	256	3	2	4	267
State Laboratory	0	0	0	0	0	6	6
Taoiseach	2	0	8	3	1	3	17
Tourism Sport and Recreation	1	1	3	1	0	2	8
Total	10	60	1,123	24	24	222	1,463

(iii) Outstanding vacancies in Government Department and Offices

The Department of Finance database on Civil Service numbers provides a snapshot in time of officers serving in Government Departments and offices. It does not, however, maintain a record of vacancies in all Government Departments and Offices. The following figures have been compiled from the various personnel areas throughout the Civil Service. This shows the total number of vacancies at 2,531. Last month, a series of questions to Government Departments elicited a response suggesting some 1,800 vacancies in the Civil Service, this did not take into account Offices such as the Revenue Commissioners, the Office of Public Works, Central Statistics Office etc. A substantial number of these posts have been sanctioned very recently in connection with sudden increases in workloads, for example, refugees, and for new tasks that have been taken on or are projected in Departments and Offices.

Again, a comprehensive list of vacancies is included for the Deputy's information. The main Departments-Offices concerned are: Justice Equality and Law Reform 755; Revenue Commissioners 446; Agriculture, Food and Rural Development 407; Education & Science 116; Vacancies in Government Departments and Offices.

Vacancies in Government Departments and Offices

	Dep.Sec.	Ass.Sec.	PO	AP	AO	HEO	EO	SO	CO	Serv.Off.	Serv.Att.	Other	Total
Agriculture, Food and Rural Development	0	0	0	1	0	23	32	9	115	0	0	227	407
Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	4	1	0	33	42
Attorney General	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	5	0	0	15	24
Central Statistics Office	0	0	0	1	0	0	24	2	22	0	0	6	55
Chief State Solicitor	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	9	1	0	31	43
Civil Service Commission	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	9	0	0	1	12
C&AG	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	8	10
Courts Service	0	0	1	4	0	10	3	6	39	2	0	11	76
Defence	0	0	1	2	0	5	3	0	14	1	0	2	28
DPP	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	3	0	0	4	13
Education and Science	1	0	1	3	1	12	21	3	25	3	0	46	116
Enterprise, Trade and Employment	0	1	0	7	3	10	18	1	15	0	0	13	68
Environment and Local Government	0	0	0	3	3	8	6	0	4	0	0	25	49
Finance	0	0	0	1	9	13	9	1	7	1	1	0	42
	Dep.Sec.	Ass.Sec.	PO	AP	AO	HEO	EO	SO	CO	Serv.Off.	Serv.Att.	Other	Total
Foreign Affairs	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	9	0	0	10	20
Health and Children	0	0	0	8	0	8	10	4	6	0	0	0	36
Justice, Equality and Law Reform	0	0	4	44	8	59	148	19	170	31	0	272	755
Marine and Nautural Resources	0	0	0	1	0	9	9	1	17	0	1	44	82
National Gallery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Office of Public Works	0	0	0	1	0	2	8	3	6	0	0	0	20
Oireachtas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	27	29
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1	5	0	0	3	12
Ordnance Survey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
President's Establishment	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Public Enterprise	0	0	0	0	0	29	6	8	11	0	0	0	54
Revenue Commissioners	0	1	0	6	2	31	39	44	30	11	2	280	446
Social, Community and Family Affairs	0	0	2	0	0	13	15	3	20	2	0	0	55
State Laboratory	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	9	11
Taoiseach	0	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	9
Tourism, Sport and Recreation	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	4
Valuation Office	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	1	0	0	6	11
Total	2	2	12	85	26	241	369	106	557	54	4	1,073	2,531

Question No. 33 taken with Question No. 22

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Thursday, 30 Nov 2000