Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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207. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on whether an anomaly has been created by the recent temporary clerical officer 2014 competition, in that it impacts on the already successful candidates from the existing established clerical officer panel created by civil service clerical officer competition number 07/089/10; this anomaly arises because of the Government moratorium on public sector appointments which has been compounded now by the insertion of a clause in this year’s term time clerical officer 2014 competition that may allow in certain circumstances some successful candidates to be invited for further assessment to fill a few clerical officer roles on a permanent basis later; furthermore since the old competition has not expired, there could now exist two pools of candidates to fill any of the appointments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20298/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As set out as follows, the matter referred to the Deputy does not give rise to any anomaly and there is no question of two pools of candidates for Clerical Officer positions in the Civil Service being in operation.    

Recruitment to the civil service and a range of other public bodies takes place under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 which established a central recruitment agency, the Public Appointments Service (PAS), for this purpose. The PAS operates under licence from the Commission for Public Service Appointments and is independent in its operations.

As the Deputy notes, there has been a moratorium in place since 2009 which has severely curtailed recruitment into permanent positions, other than with critical replacements and key skills shortages. There are no Civil Service Clerical Officer competitions or panels currently active due to the lapse of time since they were run. The competition referenced by the Deputy was launched in 2007 and will not be revisited for offers of appointment at this stage.

The Temporary Clerical Officer (TCO) campaigns being run each year have facilitated the filling of short-term vacancies/absences without conflicting with Government policy of reducing overall civil service numbers. While a key aspect of this campaign has been the arrangements around Term Time absence, it has been more broadly focused in recent years to cover other time limited situations.

The  TCO 2014 competition contains an enabling provision in the Information Booklet whereby temporary staff who have performed effectively may be given an opportunity to compete for a limited number of permanent positions. This provision was inserted in recognition of positive feedback from Departments/Offices on the quality of appointees and also takes account of the effort and investment in bringing these staff to the required level of competence in their respective areas. This arrangement is not designed to circumvent or to preclude the holding of an open Clerical Officer competition should my Department require it in line with workforce planning returns.