Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 51: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of staff across the public sector at principal officer grade or equivalent in 2000 and 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33917/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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According to our records, there were approximately 845 Principal Officer and equivalent grades in the Civil Service in 2000 compared with 1,322 in 2009. However, because of changes in grading and organisational structures across the Civil Service in the intervening period between 2000 and 2009, these figures cannot be directly compared. Excluding the equivalent grades, a more direct comparison would be that in 2000 there were 462 Principal Officers (Standard & Higher Scales) compared with 709 (Standard & Higher Scales) in 2009. This number has since declined to 682 in Summer 2010.

As regards the wider public service, information of this nature had not been generally reported to my Department in the past as the focus had been on overall numbers. Therefore, I am not in a position to provide any information in relation to 2000. However, following the establishment of a new public service monitoring system during 2009, information along the lines sought by the Deputy has started to be reported to my Department. They are mutual data only and I will communicate with the Deputy when the information is full collated and analysed.