Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Question 67: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the addition of 40,000 employees to the public sector in the last Quarterly National Household Survey; and the details, including costing, of the new positions. [24134/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The CSO Quarterly National Household Survey does not purport to be an indicator of public service employment. The CSO classification of "Public Services" includes sizable private sector elements in the Health and Education sectors including work without a public sector parallel. For example the health sector figure includes private sector health practitioners and providers and also private crèche workers. The education sector figure includes private schools, colleges, and training providers.

As regards public sector employment, a more relevant CSO series is that on Public Sector Employment and Earnings, although it should be noted that this survey includes the commercial State companies, which are not covered by the Government's staff numbers policy. The most recent figures available under this series are in respect of December 2005, published on the 4th of May. This shows an increase of 2,500, from 246,600 to 249,100, between December 2004 and December 2005.

It is also worth noting that the CSO figures under both headings discussed above include all employees whether full-time or part -time. The surveys cover those who worked at least 1 hour in the reference week for most sectors. The most appropriate measure for the purposes of monitoring the effect of the Government's policy on public service numbers is whole time equivalents. On this basis my Department's figures show an increase in total public service employment of 7,070 from 281,581 at 31 December 2004 to 288,651 at the end of 2005.

The policy on numbers employed in the public service has succeeded in cutting back on the rapid rise in public service employment in the period 1997 to 2002. From 1997 to 2001 there had been an increase of almost 43,000, or 19%, in the number of public service employees. From the introduction of the policy in December 2002 to the end of 2005, the increase has been of the order of 7,600 or 2.5%. This took place at a time of significant increases both in employment in the economy generally and in the population with the corresponding increased demand for public services.

The Government has been prepared to increase numbers to meet priority needs in frontline and essential services, for example, new health units and the disability area in the Health sector, Special Needs Teachers in the education system and to increase the number of Gardaí; this is in line with the approach stated when the policy was launched.

It is important that an appropriate balance is struck between the need, on the one hand, to provide resources to improve front-line services and the need, on the other to control and regulate overall numbers in the context of providing value for money for the public expenditure involved.