Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the Commission for Public Service Appointments is an independent statutory body. It is responsible for overseeing appointments to a wide range of positions in the civil and public service. In carrying out its oversight role the commission audits recruitment processes and examines complaints from individuals unhappy with the conduct of an appointment process. The CPSA may make recommendations, offer advice or give instructions to recruiting bodies within its remit. However, it does not have the statutory authority to reverse a recruitment decision taken by one of these recruiting bodies.

As the commission is an independent statutory body, my Department has no involvement in the examination of complaints made to the CPSA.

There are two distinct review procedures provided for under section 7 and section 8 of the codes of practice. A review under section 7 applies in cases where a candidate is unhappy with a decision relating to his or her candidature and wishes to have that decision reviewed. The review of a recruitment decision is conducted solely by the licence holder. The commission cannot overturn this decision and has no role in the process. A review under section 8 applies in cases where a person believes an appointment process has breached the codes and wishes to have it investigated. The complainant must make the complaint to the licence holder in the first instance. If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the outcome of the licence holder's review, he or she may request the commission to investigate the alleged breach.

In this area in the year to date, 83 requests were received under section 8. Of these, a total of 18 requests were deemed invalid, 19 requests were deemed premature and 46 requests were accepted as valid complaints. To date, a total of 35 complaints have been examined with a formal decision issued by the commission. Of these, a total of five were upheld, seven were partially upheld and 23 were not upheld. Where a complaint was upheld or partially upheld, recommendations were made to the licence holder to address the shortcomings identified.

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