Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 February 2022
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I very much welcome the report published by the committee back in November. I appeared before the committee on another matter shortly after the publication of that report and we had an initial discussion on it then. I have now had an opportunity to consider the report in more detail. It is a very detailed piece of work, with 288 pages and a significant number of recommendations. Having considered the matter carefully, it is my intention, as Minister, to propose the establishment of an independent external review panel tasked with a number of key objectives. One objective will be to make recommendations to strengthen the recruitment process for senior public service posts, including at the top of the Civil Service and a number of key public service posts, and also to make recommendations on the process of determining the terms and conditions of employment associated with such posts I am happy to go into that in more detail and to take the Deputy's questions.
On the specific question raised by Deputy Farrell, the issue of gifting a portion of salary is very much a matter for individuals. I am not privy to the details of individual Ministers or civil servants as to when gifting arrangements were put in place or ended.