I presume the Deputy is referring, in the first part of his question, to the employment of temporary clerical officers each year by the Department of Foreign Affairs to work in the passport offices in Dublin, Cork and Balbriggan during the spring-summer period, when the demand for passports reaches a seasonal high. The number of temporary clerical officers employed in the years 1997 to 2004, inclusive, was as follows:
|
Year
|
Total number of TCOs employed
|
|
1997
|
72
|
|
1998
|
78
|
|
1999
|
102
|
|
2000
|
96
|
|
2001
|
150
|
|
2002
|
135
|
|
2003
|
78
|
|
2004
|
159
|
The December 2004-January 2005 timetable for the introduction of the new automated passport system and the related comprehensive training programme which is currently under way have resulted in a need for increased numbers of temporary clerical officers in 2004 and 2005. The number of temporary clerical officers required from late summer 2005 onwards will be assessed in the light of a planned review of passport office staffing needs following the implementation of the new automated passport system and anticipated further annual increases in demand for passports.
The duration of temporary clerical officer contracts varies widely. Normally, approximately half of each year's intake of temporary clerical officers are employed from March and April to September and the remainder from late January or early February until November or December. Overall, the average duration of contracts has been of the order of seven months. A small number of other temporary staff have been employed since 1997, in particular in the context of Ireland's EU Presidency in the first half of this year. In addition to officers temporarily assigned to the Department of Foreign Affairs from other Departments and offices, approximately 30 stagiaires were employed on short-term contracts prior to and for the duration of the Presidency. The Department also employs a small number of stagiaires on an annual basis. These are one in its development co-operation directorate, one in the human rights unit, and two in the legal division, as well as 42 specialist staff on fixed-term contracts assigned to the development co-operation directorate.
Staff officer and executive officer posts in the Department are, in the main, filled through internal, interdepartmental or open competitions. Other factors such as restructuring agreements, the redeployment or transfer of staff from other Departments and the integration of the staff of the National Committee for Development Education in 2003 and the Agency for Personal Service Overseas in 2004 have also resulted in the filling of posts in these grades. The arrangements for filling staff and executive officer posts are agreed centrally between the Department of Finance and the Civil and Public Service Union, which represents officers in the clerical officer and staff officer grades. The following table gives a breakdown by year of the numbers of promotions to each grade, excluding promotions to executive officer and junior systems analyst.
Promotion to Staff Officer.
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
|
Internal
|
1
|
7 *
|
6
|
10
|
13
|
16
|
3
|
0
|
|
Interdepartmental/open
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
* includes 6 as a result of CPSU restructuring agreement.
Promotion to Executive Officer.
|
Internal
|
0
|
8*
|
9
|
3
|
6
|
6
|
1
|
0
|
|
Interdepartmental/open
|
1
|
2
|
12
|
9
|
22
|
17
|
4
|
6
|
* includes 6 as a result of CPSU restructuring agreement.
