Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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177. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if the treatment and hiring of temporary clerical officers by his Department will be re-examined in view of the fact that many temporary clerical officers with many years, and even decades, of experience and good work records are unable to have any certainty with regard to future work contracts from his Department; if their experience and past record will be taken into account when work becomes available; the likely impact on these workers' prospects of receiving future work and contracts and of steps taken by his Department to contract out certain work to private companies; and if there has been a decline in the hiring of temporary clerical officers by his Department in recent years. [38079/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Temporary Clerical Officers (TCOs) are recruited by my Department to provide cover for a wide range of purposes such as staff absences on maternity or sick leave or to assist with specific projects that may be undertaken by the Department from time to time. The use of TCOs by this Department is always in accordance with Civil Service General Council Report 1323.

All TCOs are recruited on foot of competitions administered by the Public Appointments Service (PAS). Once approval has been given to recruit a TCO, my Department contacts PAS and are provided with details of the next person from the panel. Appointments are administered by PAS in strict order of merit.

TCOs are recruited on either a fixed term or fixed purpose contract basis. Where a person is recruited on a fixed term basis their employment must end on the predetermined date as contained in their contract of employment. In the case of a person recruited on a specific purpose contract basis, once the purpose for which they were recruited no longer exists, the Department is obliged to give appropriate notice and end their employment.

Employment in my Department on a temporary contract does not carry any entitlement to permanency. Recruitment of permanent staff is the responsibility of the Public Appointments Service.

There has been no significant decline in the number of TCOs recruited by my Department in recent years. Future recruitment of TCOs depends on many factors, including the number of temporary staffing requirements arising from specific projects, the grade mix in the Department, the underlying demographic factors which impact on patterns of staff absence as well as any decisions on outsourcing of services made in accordance with the Public Service Agreements.