Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 114: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the implications for the public service generally of the recent Labour Court decision that the practice by the Health Service Executive of employing clerical staff provided by an outside agency, on an ongoing basis, breached the terms of national agreements; if he will review the embargo on recruitment in the public service in view of the Labour Court finding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17157/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Labour Court Recommendation 18912 related to the engagement of agency workers by the Health Service Executive West region. The Court found that the lack of prior consultation by management with the union (IMPACT) in relation to the engagement of agency workers was in breach of the provisions of Sustaining Progress and Towards 2016. The Court further recommended that the HSE-West should restore staffing levels to their previous levels without the use of agency workers.

This Labour Court recommendation related to particular circumstances in the Health Service Executive West region. It is a matter for individual public service employing bodies to consider whether it has any implications for them but I do not see it as having any implications for the public service generally.

To refer to the "public sector embargo on recruitment" does not properly reflect Government policy on public service numbers. There has not been any embargo on recruitment. The Government has, over the last number of years, followed a policy under which growth in public service employment has slowed overall. The Government will continue to control and regulate numbers employed in the public service within agreed ceilings. The number employed is kept under constant review given the importance of striking an appropriate balance between the need, on the one hand, to provide resources to improve front-line services and cater for demographic pressures 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.

This strategy will govern decisions about employment in public services. It is a matter for each Minister and Department to manage their employment levels within this strategy.