Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Finance the position in relation to the panel created as a result of a Public Service Commission confined executive officer competition 2006 which expired on 30 June 2009; the number of persons who remained on that panel; his views on sanctioning further promotions from this panel at this stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28034/09]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Finance Circular 26/2006 sets out details of a confined competition for promotion to Executive Officer in the Civil Service. In accordance with normal procedure in respect of promotion to this grade, the circular was agreed with the Civil and Public Services Union.

The terms of the circular did not envisage appointments being made from the competition after 30 June 2008. For operational reasons, my Department agreed with the CPSU to the extension of the panel until 30 June 2009.

In the context of the implementation of savings measures on public service numbers, in March 2009 the Government announced a moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public service. Having regard to the moratorium, my Department decided that it would not be appropriate to seek any further extension to the panel set up under Circular 26/2006 and the panel closed on 30 June 2009. This is in line with the policy applying to promotion panels for other Civil Service grades where panels for promotion to the grades of higher executive officer, assistant principal officer and principal officer have also closed in recent months.

The Public Appointments Service informs me that in order to be placed on the panel candidates must be successful at all stages of the selection process. In the competition in question, 110 candidates were appointed from the panel and 50 remained unassigned on the closure date of the panel. It is not possible to make an appointment from a panel that has expired.