Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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287. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the processes or procedures in place to monitor the number of civil servants or public servants who are directly related, that is a child or a sibling, to current or former civil servants or public servants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26305/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy may wish to note that recruitment to the civil and public service is governed by the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act, 2004 and by the Civil Service Regulation Acts, 1956-2005. The 2004 Act provides for the establishment of the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) and of the Public Appointments Service (PAS). PAS - an independent statutory body - provides a centralised recruitment, assessment and selection body for the civil service. This recruitment model ensures that core principles of public service recruitment such as, for example, probity and fairness underpin the recruitment process. In specific terms, under the Codes of Practice prescribed by the CPSA appointments into the public service must be made in accordance with the principle of merit. In practice this means that candidates are ranked based on their performance in the competitive recruitment process, and are then offered appointments in order of merit. On that basis, the type of information referred to in the Deputy's question is not routinely collected or monitored. Indeed, in addition to privacy concerns, in the circumstances that high standards of public service recruitment are in place and implemented in practice, the rationale for compiling such information is not evident.