Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 219: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the procedures in place to manage sick leave in his Department; the sick leave entitlement in place in his Department; the combined amount of sick days taken by staff in his Department in 2011 and to date in 2012; the financial cost of this sick leave; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31567/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The management of sick leave within my Department is implemented in accordance with civil service policy as set out in Department of Finance Circular 09/2010 - Management of Sick Leave.

The criteria for the payment of sick is set out in Department of Finance Circular 25/1978. Full pay during properly certified sick absence may be allowed up to a maximum of six months in one year and half pay thereafter subject to a maximum of twelve months sick leave in any period of four years or less. For the purposes of calculating the periods of sick leave on full and half pay, six months and twelve months are, where sick absence is not continuous, reckoned as 183 days and 365 days respectively, including Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays falling within a period of sick leave.

Sick leave for single or two day absences, in total not exceeding seven days in any period of twelve months, may be granted without medical certificate.

In 2011 the number of sick days taken by staff amounted to some 18,700 at a cost of approximately €3 million, representing a lost time rate of 3.5%. The corresponding figures in respect of 2012 are calculated up to 31 May 2012, and are 7,789 and €1.2 million. It should be noted that the standard method of calculating sick days in the Civil Service involves the inclusion of Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.