Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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554. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of public and civil servants who were recruited under the aegis of her Department in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21112/15]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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555. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of public and civil servants under the aegis of her Department who were seconded abroad or to another Department in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21129/15]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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556. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of public servants under the aegis of her Department who retired in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21148/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 554 to 556, inclusive, together.

In 2014 there was a moratorium on recruitment and promotion in place in the civil and public service. Consequently, recruitment across the justice sector remained subject to specific sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Recruitment by way of sanctioned exception to the moratorium was therefore restricted to specific or priority posts. In that context the following recruitment took place during 2014:

It should be noted that a number of the posts filled related to posts vacated by retiring staff members or staff who otherwise left their posts including by way of transfers or promotions. Furthermore, 76 of the posts shown above relate to temporary clerical officers employed on short term contracts. These are, by definition, short term contracts designed principally to meet seasonal peaks and facilitate staff who avail of the Shorter Working Year Scheme.

In addition to the above a number of staff joined the Department on transfer or through redeployment from other areas of the Civil and Public Service.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is an independent statutory body, established under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act, 2014 with effect from 1 November 2014. In order to facilitate the establishment of the Commission from that date, recruitment to a number of posts by the then Equality Authority and the Irish Human Rights Commission was undertaken and the table below reflects recruitment in 2014 prior to the establishment date of 1 November 2014.

The numbers of civil and public servants from my Department or Agencies under the aegis of my Department who were seconded out or abroad during 2014 is set out in the table.

The following public servants under the aegis of my Department retired during the year 2014:

The information in relation to civil service retirements is being provided on a centralised basis by my colleague the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The Justice Sector continues to have a total staff strength of 22,000 approximately and notwithstanding the continuation of the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in 2014, I was delighted to have recently secured sanctions to recruit significant numbers to An Garda Síochána and to specific areas or roles such as the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, the Charities Regulatory Authority and also to the Border Management Unit of my Department to facilitate operating frontline immigration controls at Dublin Airport by civilians. I will continue to prioritise frontline service delivery.