Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the number of former employees who have been brought back to work on contract, or others employed on contract to do work which has traditionally been done in-house in his Department and the agencies under his authority; and the way in which this practice fits with the intended embargo on recruitment. [36454/05]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has four unestablished geologists on contracts which are, under the Fixed Term Working Act 2004, of indefinite duration, who are engaged on in-house work in the geological survey and exploration and mining division. My Department also employs a temporary radio officer in the Irish Coast Guard, covering for an employee on long-term sick leave. Under public service policy on staff numbers overseen by the Department of Finance, which does not entail an embargo on recruitment, my Department may recruit and employ staff, within authorised numbers. This includes the employment of contract staff working on short-term or once-off projects not related to in-house work. My Department has requested information from the agencies and I will revert to the Deputy when it is available.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of former employees who have been brought back to work on contract, or others employed on contract to do work which has traditionally been done in-house in his Department and the agencies under his authority; and the way in which this practice fits with the intended embargo on recruitment. [36455/05]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Department occasionally re-employs, on a temporary basis, a small number of former officers, including some who have retired, in order to meet short-term needs and exceptional work demands. Examples of such demands are special tasks for the EU Presidencies, for specialised UN-related work such as the law of the sea, and for archival scanning and research. The number of former employees who were brought back to work on contract in each of the past five years are outlined in the following table.

It is not the practice in my Department to re-employ former staff on a contract basis to deal with core work of the Department.

There are no public bodies or agencies under the aegis of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 141: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the number of former employees who have been brought back to work on contract, or others employed on contract to do work which has traditionally been done in-house in his Department and the agencies under his authority; and the way in which this practice fits with the intended embargo on recruitment. [36456/05]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I am not aware of any instances of former employees being re-employed on contract to attend to work traditionally done in-house by my Department since its establishment in June 2002.

Employment of staff by the agencies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the agencies themselves.