Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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208. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under the Civil Service reform programme, the number of clerical officers who have been promoted to higher executive officer and the number of executive officers who have been promoted to assistant principal officer in his Department through internal competitions after the significant change in eligibility rules; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2579/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Rules regarding eligibility for internal promotion within Civil Service Departments were changed as a consequence of a communication from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. As a consequence serving officers have been allowed to compete for promotion to all grades regardless of their current grade. In line with this methodology, since January 2015, of the 17 staff promoted to Higher Executive Officer through internal competition within my Department, 3 were of Clerical Officer grade. In the same period, there were no promotions from Executive Officer to Assistant Principal.

Staff of my Department are encouraged to apply for career advancement opportunities, including internal and open promotion competitions, and may avail themselves of a range of training and further educational opportunities to assist in this development.

Finally, my Department would not have access to statistics in relation to participation in central competitions run by the Public Appointments Services.