Written answers

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Departmental Staff Rehiring

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

328. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of retired civil and public servants rehired on temporary contracts or as consultants under his remit; if he will provide a breakdown of those figures in tabular form, providing associated costs of such rehiring; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29521/14]

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In response to the Deputy's question the following table gives a breakdown of retired civil and public servants that have been re-hired on temporary contracts or as consultants under my remit.

Retired staff rehired on temporary contracts under the remit of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

Department / OfficeYearNo. of StaffAssociated Costs
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform20131€3,000
-201421 Staff member with a Salary range from €23,177 p.a. - €37,341

1 Staff member contracted for €26,900
Institute of Public Administration *20114€28,545
-20123€12,769
-20133€9,834
-2014 to date1€2,450
Valuation Office20114€26,044
-20124€1,540
-20134€12,420
-20144€2,700
Office of Public Works20116€136,840
-201211€194,351
-20131€28,842

* The IPA has occasionally contracted retired staff with specialist knowledge/skills on a per diem basis to support delivery of education, training or consultancy services delivered to clients.  

The Public Appointments Service (PAS), in the course of running recruitment competitions for the public service, avails of trained and experienced individuals from the private and public sectors.  Those assisting in this that are in receipt of a public or private sector salary receive no payment whatsoever.  A fee per day is paid to retired individuals and to those from the private sector (e.g. self employed) who forego earnings in order to facilitate PAS.  The list of individuals who assist PAS in undertaking its task is constantly changing but would number several hundred.  It would include retired public servants who act as interviewers, assessors or as decisions arbitrators.  At any given time, there would be approximately 60 active who would be used from time to time for short periods.  For this work, retired individuals are paid on a fee-per-day basis and are subject to tax and other relevant deductions. The fees are linked to pre-retirement grades and take account of the principle of pension abatement.  

The fee structure for the Public Appointments Service is as follows:

Type of Retired Public Sector Worker re-employed Fee Range FromFee Range To
Retired Public Sector Worker€130 per day.€377 per day.
Self-Employed Private Sector Worker€334 per day.€500 per day.
Retired Private Sector Worker€130 per day.€400 per day.

These positions are not advertised but any trained professionals can apply to PAS to be placed on the data base for our selection boards.  

The outgoing Chairman of the Public Appointments Service Board, who is a former Civil Servant, was reappointed by me in September 2011 and is paid a stipend €11,970 per annum.  

The Chairperson of the PAS Internal Audit Committee is also a former Public Servant and was paid a fee of €2,137.50 in 2012.  She was appointed by the former Chief Executive of PAS on the basis of her experience in the area of corporate governance.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.