Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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556. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of persons on long-term sick leave within the public service; and the average length of same. [12898/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Information around the numbers of Full-Time Equivalents who are on continuous long-term sick leave across the Public Service is collected, where available, by my Department on an annual basis. Figures relating to long-term sick leave are not available in the Health Sector currently.

Long-term sick leave for the purposes of these figures are defined as 'continuous sick leave of over 28 calendar days' (i.e. 4 weeks).

In 2015, there were 9,423 Full-time Equivalents absent on periods of continuous long-term sick leave across the Public Service (excluding the Health Sector).

There is no data available on the average length of a long-term absence.