Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to indicate that there is going to be a great relaxation of numbers. However, I want, through rational discussion as we improve our capacity, to look at real pressure points and relieve them. I am not aware of any chaos in the public service. Will the Deputy tell me of this chaos of which she has discerned?

The outturn numbers for the end of 2013 are 288,840. The overall target for this year is 287,000. That is the same target we set for last year. It means we have some flexibility. If one looks at the age profile of civil and public servants, because we have not been recruiting, a significant number of people are retiring. This gives us opportunities to recruit in a structured way. Towards the end of last year, I asked my Cabinet colleagues to look not only at their own Departments but agencies under their remit to see if there are surplus staff. There are some areas with surplus staff with other areas under pressure. This would allow us to offer redeployment, under the terms of the Haddington Road agreement, or voluntary redundancy schemes in those areas where redeployment does not suit.

We have had considerable redeployment in many areas. This morning on radio, I gave the example of where we needed more people working in the Garda vetting unit in Tipperary but there were surplus staff in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine office in the same county. We transferred staff from the latter to the former on a voluntary basis. Similarly, we moved surplus public servants from Tralee to a payroll centre in Killarney in order that they could be redeployed in their own county.

I have a slightly more relaxed focus on numbers but, obviously, we need to reach our targets in moneys rather than numbers. Ministers, as well as many Deputies, have repeatedly told me that the crudeness of a recruitment moratorium is often not good policy. For instance, someone senior who retires could actually be better replaced by two more junior people. However, that would run foul of the numbers issue but not of the pay savings issue. That is the flexibility I am trying to manage now. There is a little more flexibility as we emerge from the critical phase of restoring our public finances.