Mr. Niall Cody:

As one can imagine, it is senior grades. This is common - the Comptroller and Auditor General has the same problem. Demographics is an issue across the Civil Service. We all joined between 1979 and 1981 when there was big recruitment in Revenue. The previous one was when Ireland joined the EU in 1972, 1973 and 1974. From 1982 to 2002, there were really small numbers recruited. All the people who are between 50 and 60 are not lifetime civil servants because now recruitment happens at all ages and levels of experience. We have 2,000 over 55 and we have another 1,100 or 1,200 over 50. We are looking at an organisation in which over the next ten years practically all our senior management, with a few exceptions, will have retired.