Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 110: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the number of women forced to retire from the Civil Service on marriage pre-1973 and who were reinstated in the Civil Service as widows between January 2004 and June 2006. [13942/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There are no cases of women forced to retire from the Civil Service on marriage pre-1973 and who were reinstated in the Civil Service as widows between January 2004 and June 2006.

Section 11 of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956, as amended by the Civil Service (Employment of Married Women) Act, 1973, provided for the reinstatement to their former positions of women who resigned from the Civil Service for marriage-related reasons and who fulfilled specific criteria.

The statutory provisions permitting such reinstatements were, however, challenged under the terms of the Employment Equality Act, 1977 by the Employment Equality Agency and were found by the Labour Court to be discriminatory and contrary to the principle of equal treatment. The Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act, 1996, repealed the statutory provisions and, consequently, the only avenue of re-entry to the Civil Service now open to former civil servants (regardless of gender or marital status) is to go through the normal recruitment route, i.e. they must be successful at a Public Appointments Service open competition, or such other competitions that may be run under licence by individual Civil Service Departments or Offices.