Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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15. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will end restrictions in place on recruitment in all areas of the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11696/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I announced at Budget time in October that the Moratorium on Recruitment and Promotion in the Civil and Public Service would be brought to an end in 2015.  In its place will be a new arrangement that gives Departments delegated sanction for the management of staff numbers, including recruitment.  My Department is currently engaging with all other Departments to put in place the necessary administrative and oversight structures and controls that will govern the new arrangement.  Some have already been agreed and sanction has issued, and it now falls to those Departments to determine staff and service priorities and to continue to drive reform and deliver efficiencies.  These new arrangements will be subject to Departments remaining within agreed pay ceilings and meeting ongoing efficiency and reform objectives, but it provides them with more freedom to recruit and assign staff where they determine the need is greatest.

The Moratorium was a necessary emergency response at a time of fiscal crisis, and it played an important role in helping to reduce the size and cost of the public service to a level that was affordable and sustainable. 

It is important to note that throughout the time of the Moratorium, the Government continued to provide for targeted recruitment into key frontline areas in Education and Health, in particular.  Indeed, most recently, at Budget time in October, I made additional financial provision for 1,700 new teachers, Special Needs Assistants and resource teachers, as well as additional front line staff in Health and 300 new Garda recruits.