Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

Under the terms of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, recruitment to the Civil Service, including my Department, is a matter for the public appointments service, PAS, which is required to ensure that standards of probity, merit, equity and fairness are followed in the recruitment, assessment and selection of persons for appointment. It is for the PAS to determine the qualifications and experience required for appointment to general service positions up to and including principal officer level.

I understand the "senior positions" referred to by the Deputy to comprise the grades of Secretary General, assistant secretary and principal officer. All promotions to principal officer in my Department are made on merit, either by way of internal competition or by way of competitions held by the PAS, some of which are open to non-civil servants. Since 2004, in accordance with instructions issued by the Department of Finance, all vacancies that would normally be filled by way of PAS competitions have been filled by the redeployment of staff who were surplus to requirements in Dublin due to decentralisation.

Appointments to Secretary General and assistant secretary positions are made by the Government and the relevant Minister, respectively, following - in most cases since early 2007 - an open competition organised by the PAS. The latter holds a preliminary competition and selects a shortlist of candidates for interview by the top-level appointments committee. It is for the committee to determine the qualifications and experience required for appointment to these positions.

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