Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

In the spirit of transparency to which the Taoiseach referred in his reply, have any retired civil servants returned to work in his Department? There has been considerable public commentary about this phenomenon of civil servants leaving on pension and returning, in some cases to the same Department. Common sense dictates at a time of high unemployment that when vacancies arise within the service those positions should be filled by some of the many thousands of skilled people who find themselves on the dole queues or in the airport departure lounges. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify whether any position in his Department is filled by a person who has returned after retirement. I ask for his view on this phenomenon in general.

The Taoiseach has said that jobs and growth are a key priority for his Department and this is welcome. How does he see his role and that of his Department in the delivery of any economic stimulus plan? What is the role of his Department in overseeing the delivery of action plans for job creation? His strategy statement makes clear the need to avoid what is termed group think and I presume this arises from the findings of the Nyberg report, the Regling Watson report and the Honohan report.

In recent weeks we have heard how repeated cautions by a Department of Finance official in 2005 of the impending economic crash, were persistently removed from public statements and from responses to priority questions. What steps has the Government taken to avoid a repetition of any such scenario?

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