Ivana Bacik (Independent)

Senator Brennan pointed out that it is national volunteering week. All of us would commend the considerable voluntary efforts that are made throughout the year and which are being celebrated this week.

Senator Mary Ann O'Brien was the first of many speakers to raise the issue of rehiring in the public sector. The Senator called for a debate about the cost to the State of this practice. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, accepted this morning that the scheme was not sufficiently targeted but that it was inherited by this Government. Overall figures on rehiring are not yet available. Clearly an issue arises whereby the departure of people from senior levels of the public service resulted in a severe loss of expertise. There have been individual instances of rehiring but I do not have figures for this. I agree that it would be useful to debate the issue in this House. There has been a substantive and planned reduction in public service numbers since this Government was formed.

Senator Healy Eames called for a wide ranging debate on the stability treaty and the markets. We will hold a debate on the stability treaty this Thursday and some of the points the Senator raised might be discussed in the context of that debate. We could also organise a more general debate after the referendum.