Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 October 2014
232. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of persons who are on public or Civil Service pensions who have been recruited for work on any basis, permanent or temporary, under the remit of his Department in 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39549/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraDetails are set out in the following table of the retired officials of my Department who were re-hired temporarily during the period in question:
2012
|
Grade |
Position Held |
Duration |
|
Assistant Secretary |
Passport Appeals Officer |
Three-year contract from 20 January 2012 to deal with appeals as and when they arise (resigned from the position on 25 April 2014) |
|
Deputy Secretary |
Tánaiste’s Special Representative in connection with Ireland’s Chairmanship of the OSCE, 2012 |
Contract for a maximum of 30 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2012 |
|
Assistant Secretary |
To assist in the preparation of files for the National Archives |
Contract for a maximum of 10 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2012 |
|
Counsellor |
To assist in preparations for the Irish Presidency of the European Union in January – June 2013 |
Contract from 1 May 2012 to 30 June 2013 |
|
First Secretary |
Embassy Canberra (temporarily filling vacant post) |
Contract from December 2012 to March 2013 |
2013
|
Grade |
Position Held |
Duration |
|
Assistant Secretary |
To assist in the preparation of files for the National Archives |
Contract for a maximum of 10 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2013 |
2014
|
Grade |
Position Held |
Duration |
|
Assistant Secretary |
To assist in the preparation of files for the National Archives |
Contract for a maximum of 10 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2014 |
|
Counsellor |
Passport Appeals Officer |
Three-year contract from 4 April 2014 to deal with appeals as and when they arise |
|
Senior Development Specialist |
To assist with a Consular Services project |
Contract for an initial 3 month period in 2014 |
Two retired civil servants, with previous service in other Departments, were given short-term Temporary Clerical Officer contracts in the Passport Office during 2012 and 2013.
From time to time, a number of retired Public Sector officials and retired Civil Servants from other Departments are engaged to assist on interview boards in my Department.
My Department’s Development Cooperation Division also occasionally engages a small number of retired staff for short-duration specialist consultancy projects connected with the activities of Irish Aid.
The policy of my Department regarding the re-engagement of retired officials is to do so to the minimum extent possible. However, for certain once-off or short-duration projects, it is more productive and cost-effective to re-engage retired staff who already have the relevant expertise and experience than to go through a time-consuming and relatively expensive recruitment, induction and training process. Where it occurs, retired staff are usually re-engaged 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.
