Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The fundamental difference, of course, between people who work for section 38 bodies and section 39 bodies is that people who work for section 38 bodies are public servants. They are employees of something that is recognised as a public body, whereas people who work for section 39 organisations are not employees of the State, but employees of NGOs, charities, religious orders and sometimes even companies. Therefore, their terms and conditions differ from those who are public servants. For example, in the main, they do not have public service pensions, so they are not public servants.

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