Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is not the case. The Bill permits flexibility to be exercised. The purpose of this simple and technical Bill is to remove the legal impediments that currently prevent reassignment across organisations other than by way of secondment. For example, when FÁS moved into the Department of Social Protection, its employees were technically seconded. FÁS was not legally moved. Temporary secondment is not a proper way of restructuring the public service. This legislation is an enabler to allow the restructuring to be made permanent, such that the employees of FÁS, for example, will be de facto employees of the Department of Social Protection.

Where redeployment is not an option, there may be circumstances in which voluntary redundancy is an option. That has happened. In no circumstances are we looking towards compulsory redundancy. That is an important point to make. The legislation is not to force or require people to be redeployed but to enable redeployment to occur on a statutory basis.