My Department engages Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) primarily to assist the Passport Service during the annual peak passport demand period. A small number of additional TCOs were also recruited in 2012 to assist the Department in the lead up to and for the duration of Ireland’s EU Presidency in the first half of this year. Details of the numbers of TCOs engaged over the past three years are set out in the table below. TCOs are recruited through selection processes conducted by the Public Appointments Service (PAS) and FÁS / Department of Social Protection on behalf of my Department. With the exception of officers who retired under the Incentivised Scheme for Early Retirement (ISER) or the HSE voluntary retirement scheme, there is nothing to prevent retired civil or public servants from participating in competitions held by these bodies or from being appointed if qualified, eligible and successful. In cases where retired public or civil servants are occasionally re-employed by the Department, this is generally on a pension abatement basis which means in effect that they continue to receive their pensions and are paid correspondingly reduced salaries by the Department.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Recruitment of Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs)
Year
|
Number of TCOs
recruited
|
Duration of contracts
|
Number who were
retired public/civil
servants
|
2011
|
85
|
Between 3 and 6 months
|
3
|
2012
|
125
12 (EU Presidency)
|
Between 3 and 6 months
September 2012 – July 2013
|
3
|
2013
|
136
|
Between 6 and 7 months
|
4
|