Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in all cases shown by category such as health, education and so forth, the number of persons employed in the public sector at the peak; the number who have since left the public sector; the number he expects will leave by the end of February 2012; if he will clarify his overall targets for the public sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40656/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The information the Deputy is seeking is freely available on my Department's website in the Public Service Staff Numbers Databank.

The information is presented on a whole time equivalent basis and shows the number of staff employed in each sector at the end of each year for the period 1994 to 2010. For 2011 the data is published on a quarterly basis.

The Databank is regularly updated and uses the end 2008 figures as its base. The numbers are based on information reported to my Department on a quarterly basis. As outlined in the Public Service Reform Plan that I published on 17 November last, the Government plans to reduce the size of the public service to 282,500 by 2015. A sectoral breakdown of this figure will be announced in due course.

The numbers reduction set out in the Budget last week will see 2012 public service numbers reduced to some 294,000, a 6,000 reduction over projected end 2011 figure of 300,000. This represents a third of the required reductions between now and 2015 and is consistent with Government's policy to front-load the correction, thus maximising the potential savings. Overall, from the peak level in 2008, by end 2015 we will see a 37,500 reduction in numbers. There will also be a €3.5 billion or 20% reduction in the Exchequer paybill over that period.

My Department has estimated that up to 9,000 staff are due to retire in 2012. It is expected that the vast majority of these will retire under the "Grace Period" which ends in February 2012. A full sectoral breakdown of the numbers remaining will not be available until the end of the first quarter of 2012 and will be published on my Department's website.