Written answers
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Departmental Staff
9:00 pm
Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 183: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of retired public servants who have been re-hired in his Department during the period of April 2011 to April 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25244/12]
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Details are set out in the following table of a total of 8 retired officials of my Department who were temporarily re-engaged or who were already contracted to the Department during the period in question:
| GRADE | POSITION HELD | DURATION |
| 1 Assistant Secretary | Head of Task Force in connection with Ireland's Chairmanship of the OSCE, 2012 | Contract from 7 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 |
| 1 Deputy Secretary | Tánaiste's Special Representative in connection with Ireland's Chairmanship of the OSCE, 2012 | Contract for a maximum of 30 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2012 |
| 1 Assistant Secretary | Passport Appeals Officer | 3-year contract from 20 January 2012 to deal with appeals as and when they arise |
| 1 Assistant Secretary | To assist in the preparation of files for the National Archives | Contract for a maximum of 10 weeks spread over the twelve months of 2012 |
| 1 Development Specialist | Review of certain development cooperation projects | Contract for a maximum of 38 days from April 2010 to June 2012 |
| 1 Assistant Secretary | Chair of the Point 7 Constituency of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria | 3-year contract for a maximum of 175 days from 31 December 2010 |
| 1 Counsellor | Relating to Ireland's Chairmanship of the OSCE, 2012 | Contract from 4 February 2011 to 22 December 2011 |
| 1 Accountant | To provide technical support for the Finance Unit of Irish Aid | Two-month contract from February - March 2012 |
The policy of my Department regarding the re-hiring of retired officials is to do so to the minimum extent possible.
However, for certain once-off or short-duration projects, it is more productive and cost-effective to re-hire retired staff who already have the relevant expertise and experience than to go through a time-consuming and relatively expensive recruitment, induction and training process.
Where it occurs, retired staff are usually re-hired on a pension abatement basis, which means in effect that they continue to receive their pensions and are paid correspondingly reduced salaries by the Department.
There are no State agencies under the aegis of my Department.
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