As the Deputy will be aware, Government departments have been working under delegated sanction arrangements for their recruitment and staffing issues since 2015. Under these arrangements, there are multi-annual pay ceilings agreed and set and thereafter decisions about recruitment and promotion and overall grade composition up to and including Principal Officer level are devolved.
In general selection competitions within the Irish Civil Service take place by way of;
- competitions confined to particular Departments (Internal promotion) or
- from competitions open to candidates from all Departments (Interdepartmental promotion) or
- from open competitions to all eligible candidates including members of the public
Candidates who are successful at a competition are ranked in order of merit and are placed on panels to await appointment when and if a vacancy arises. Recruitment and promotions are made on the basis of an agreed method of sequence. Within the civil service, sequences vary for each grade and usually involve a combination of open, interdepartmental and internal panels.
Sequences for general service civil service grades are agreed under the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme and are as follows:
grade
|
open
|
interdepartmental
|
internal
|
Clerical Officer
|
100%
|
nil
|
nil
|
Executive Officer
|
40%
|
30%
|
30%
|
Higher Executive Officer
|
nil
|
50%
|
50%
|
Administrative Officer
|
100%
|
nil
|
nil
|
Assistant Principal
|
33.3%
|
33.3%
|
33.3%
|
Principal Officer
|
66.6%
|
nil
|
33.3%
|
Sequences are monitored by my department on a quarterly basis.