Written answers

Thursday, 3 December 2009

Department of Finance

Departmental Staff

5:00 am

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 104: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the practice of granting a few hours paid leave in some sectors of the public service to facilitate staff shopping in the run up to Christmas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45217/09]

Photo of Brian Lenihan JnrBrian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy does not give details or specify the sectors of the public service to which he refers, but he will be aware that the term "public service" encompasses a wide range of organisations, including but not limited to Civil Service Departments and Offices, the Garda Síochána, Permanent Defence Forces, Local Authorities, HSE, VECs and various bodies established by enactment and wholly or partly funded out of the Central Fund. The Minister for Finance is not the contractual employer for the vast majority of public servants, so I am not involved in the day to day management of more than 300,000 staff. Therefore the Deputy will appreciate that I cannot comment on particular practices in unspecified areas of the public service.

There is no formal scheme in the Civil Service. However, I understand that, dating from a time when shop opening hours were limited, it was local custom and practice in some organisations to allow some restricted grades of staff, with the greatest numbers at clerical level, a half-day's leave, for shopping in the month of December. This was and is a matter for the management of the relevant organisations. Indeed, a central element of public service reform is to promote Departmental, Ministerial and managerial responsibility. Obviously, management of public service organisations must take into account the needs of their organisations and that longer shop opening hours are available now and that flexible working hours not only meet the specific business needs of the organisations, and facilitate lunch time opening for the public, but also provide some flexibility for staff. As I have previously stated "all of us....will have to accept that the old ways of doing things need to be looked at afresh, so that we can deliver excellent public services with the dramatically lower level of resources now available."

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