Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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273. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the processes he has in place to ensure his Department's approval is given before the commencement of any administrative process for internal promotion competitions within any Department or agency of the Government; if these processes have been reviewed in view of events at Horse Racing Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38799/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Government Departments have been working under delegated sanction arrangements for their recruitment and staffing issues since 2015. Under these arrangements, which are in place for most central Government department and offices, there are multi-annual pay ceilings agreed and set and thereafter decisions about recruitment and promotion and overall grade composition up to an including Principal Officer level are devolved. Departments and offices are required to honour the pay ceilings and comply with workforce planning obligations.

As the Deputy will be aware, in general, selection competitions within the Irish Civil Service take place by way of;

- competitions confined to particular Departments (Internal promotion) or

- from competitions open to candidates from all Departments (Interdepartmental promotion) or

- from open competitions to all eligible candidates including members of the public

Candidates who are successful at a competition are ranked in order of merit and are placed on panels to await appointment when and if a vacancy arises. Recruitment and promotions are made on the basis of an agreed method of sequence. Within the civil service, sequences vary for each grade and usually involve a combination of open, interdepartmental and internal panels.  Qualification and placement on a panel is not a guarantee of appointment to a position.

I understand that sections 21 and 22 of the Irish Horseracing Industry Act, 1994 set out the manner in which both the CEO and staff can be appointed to Horse Racing Ireland. In the case of the CEO, the appointment is approved by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine with my consent. However, I have no responsibility in respect of the internal administrative processes of Horse Racing Ireland.