Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in view of the programme for Government commitment that all appointments at principal officer Level and above will be open to external competition and at least one-third of such appointments will be reserved for candidates from outside traditional Civil Service structures, his views on the appointment of his Secretary General from the Department of Finance. [20330/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment that 1 in 3 of all Principal level recruitment should be open and restricted to non-civil servants. The commitment gives rise to certain legal difficulties in the context of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 and the Code of Practice of the Commission for Public Service Appointments for appointments to the civil service. Future policy on recruitment and promotions needs to take this commitment, the moratorium on recruitment and promotion and the operation of redeployment arrangements into account.

Robert Watt was appointed by the Government to the post of Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 26 April 2011 on foot of a request for expressions of interest in appointment to the post throughout the civil service. He is required to fulfil the duties of a Secretary General as set out in the Public Service Management Act, 1997 and of an Accounting Officer under the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1997 and the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866