Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Listening to this debate people may get the impression that Secretaries General are not subject to any kind of disciplinary framework or oversight. That is not true. Under the Civil Service disciplinary code 13 separate sanctions are outlined covering everything from verbal warning, written warning, final written warning, extension of the period of validity of a warning, deferral of an increment, debarment from competitions, withdrawal of concessions, reassignment to different location or different duties and withdrawal of allowances. All of those apply to any civil servant whether Secretary General or not. However, there are three sanctions, placing a civil servant on a lower rate of remuneration, reducing the civil servant to a specified lower grade or rank and suspending the civil servant without pay. These three sanctions do not apply to Secretaries General as the law currently stands. The final sanction, sanction 13, is dismissal and a Secretary General can also be dismissed.

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