Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a breakdown of reductions of personnel in the public sector over the past four years; the expected reduction over the next two years; and when he expects the moratorium on recruitment to end. [53152/12]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Government is committed to reducing public service numbers to 282,500 by the end of 2014 as part of its Reform Agenda. The overriding objective is to have a more customer focused, leaner, more efficient and better integrated public service which delivers maximum value for money.

The moratorium on recruitment will continue until such time that the targets agreed in the Programme for Government are met. If the general moratorium on recruitment was lifted and numbers were allowed to return to their former levels, the paybill would increase over time and accordingly a substantial part of the savings already achieved would be lost. However, the precise operation of the moratorium is being kept under review by my Department.

The historical data requested by the Deputy is available on my Department’s website from 1994 to Quarter 3 2012. This data is regularly updated and I would urge all Deputies to utilise this resource.