Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Returns from across the public service indicate that approximately 7,900 public servants retired during the first three months of this year. The bulk of these retirements occurred prior to the ending of the grace period on 29 February. Information received to date by my Department, exclusive of the health sector, shows the number of re-engagements of retired civil and public servants to be approximately 70 so far in 2012. In addition, in the education sector some 254 secondary teachers and 67 primary teachers have been re-engaged in order to maintain front line services. These figures are small in comparison to the numbers who have retired.

The general policy is that staff should not be retained beyond retirement age and any re-engagement should be kept as limited as possible and should be for a very restricted period. Usually, the rehiring of retirees is related to completion of a specific task where their particular skill or experience is required. Situations can arise where a particular issue requires a short-term specialist input in order to complete a task. In many instances the most appropriate and cost-effective way of solving a short-term problem is to bring in someone who has worked in the area and understands the background. In the majority of cases these re-hires are very short-term and project specific and where the short-term nature would not justify the expense of any more formal selection process.

Where an officer who goes on pension is retained in the public service or is re-employed in the public service in a non-established capacity, the pension is abated. Such pensioners may never earn more than they would have if they had continued working. Where a person is re-engaged on a fee-paid basis, the abatement is applied to the fee itself, not the pension.

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