Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 January 2013
47. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a measure of the level of employment flexibility that exists within the public service in terms of both redeployment, sourcing of new employees from outside the public service and promotional prospects within the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3051/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Public Service Agreement 2010-14 (Croke Park Agreement) provides for agreed redeployment arrangements to apply in the Civil Service and in other parts of the public service.
Under the Agreement, redeployment generally takes precedence over all other methods of filling a vacancy and supersedes any existing agreements on the deployment of staff. It allows staff to be moved from activities which are of lesser priority, or which have been rationalised, reconfigured, or restructured, to areas of greater need. In practical terms these arrangements represent a means of facilitating the targeted reduction in public service numbers in the period 2010 to 2014 while sustaining the ongoing delivery of services.
Redeployment is managed separately within the Local Authority, Education, and Health sectors and day-to-day issues are a matter for the Minister responsible for the relevant sector. Progress is reported directly to the Implementation Body and details are available on its website at http://implementationbody.gov.ie/progress-and-delivery/.
There is a recruitment and promotion moratorium in place in the civil service, local authorities, non-commercial state bodies, the Garda Síochána and the Permanent Defence Forces. Decisions on exceptions to the moratorium are taken in the context of the business needs of the relevant organisation and any redeployment arrangements agreed for the civil and public service.
Recruitment and promotion policy in the civil and public service continues to be based on sourcing the best people for the job. To achieve this, internal promotion competitions and open competitions for more specialist posts will continue to be features of current resourcing policy at all levels.
