Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I have two questions for him. Is any work being done to ascertain why retirements are ahead of projection? Is this being driven by any trend within the service?

Is any particular area of the public service showing a higher rate of retirement than other areas? If so, are there any plans to make up for the retirements in that area?

I acknowledge that a substantial amount of work has been done by the Public Appointments Service this year. It has filled a significant number of positions. We have had ongoing conversations about human resources practices in the civil and public service that need to change to make it a more attractive place in which to work. The Minister heard me speaking about this issue last night. Flexibility is needed in the education and health care sectors to try to keep people in Ireland. Is the Public Appointments Service investing in new human resources practices that would encourage new ways of looking at recruitment and new forms of contracts? Pay is an issue, but other issues in public service contracts need to be addressed as well.