Written answers

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Department of Social Protection

Departmental Staff Rehiring

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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433. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of retired civil and public servants that have been rehired on temporary contracts or as consultants under her remit; if she will provide a breakdown of these figures in tabular form, providing associated costs of such rehiring; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30559/14]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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One member of staff in my Department, the Chief Medical Advisor, has been rehired on a temporary contract on a pay scale of €87,741 to €106,423. Payment of his pension is abated pending the termination of his temporary contract.

The Department held a competition to recruit a new Chief Medical officer in late 2013, however, no candidate was deemed suitable at interview. The decision to re-employ the Chief Medical Advisor was taken due to his specific skills and his involvement in the policy reform of the illness related schemes, the difficulty and long lead-in time for replacing his skills, and the critical importance of ensuring continuity and a high level of service to customers of the Department.

As an exception to the current moratorium on recruitment, my department has limited sanction to recruit temporary clerical officers to cover critical staff absences and to assist with the roll-out of the new Public Service Card. One temporary staff member is a retired civil servant. They are on a pay scale of €19,814 to €31,965 and were recruited on foot of open competitions run by the Public Appointments Service. Abatement of pension applies, if applicable, for the duration of these temporary contracts.

Two retired public servants were re-hired by the Pensions Authority in 2011; one at Higher Executive Officer level and one at Assistant Principal Officer level. Both individuals were recruited directly by the Pensions Authority, on three year fixed-term temporary contracts (due to cease by 31 December 2014), and were placed on the standard scales relating to their respective posts. Please note, the Authority is not Exchequer funded.

The Citizen’s Information Board had one former staff member hired on a contract for service basis. The contract followed a procurement process. The amount paid was €3,714.80 and the payments relates to the period Oct-Dec 2013.

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