John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The objective of Government policy on staffing and numbers is to ensure overall staffing levels in the public sector, including local government, are significantly reduced. With the existing recruitment moratorium, three further schemes have been implemented to support this objective: the special incentive career break scheme, the incentivised scheme of early retirement and the shorter working year scheme.

A special incentive career break scheme for local authority employees was introduced earlier this year as part of the Government's efforts to achieve a reduction in spending on the pay bill. Figures supplied by local authorities, including the regional assemblies, indicate that 295 staff have availed of the scheme from a total of 322 applications received.

The incentivised scheme of early retirement was announced by the Minister for Finance in the Budget Statement of 7 April. The purpose of the scheme was to facilitate the permanent, structural reduction in the numbers of staff serving in the local authorities. Figures supplied by the local authorities, including the regional assemblies, indicate that 276 staff have availed of the scheme from a total of 312 applications received.

The purpose of the shorter working year scheme is to permit local authority employees to balance their working arrangements with outside commitments. Special leave without pay is available for periods of two, four, six, eight, ten or 13 consecutive weeks. Both the application period and the scheme are currently open-ended - applicants are free to apply for the scheme at any time. The information on the numbers availing of the scheme is not available in my Department.

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