Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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244. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of civil servants that have left and-or retired from her Department in the past ten years that were bound by a cooling-off period in respect of taking up new employment in the private sector by grade, year and sector the staff moved on to; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38151/19]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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245. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of civil servants that have left and-or retired from her Department in the past ten years that were not bound by a cooling-off period in respect of taking up new employment in the private sector by grade, year, and sector the staff moved on to; the reason for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38167/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 244 and 245 together.

Civil servants taking up new employment following retirement or resignation from my Department are regulated under Section 20 of The Civil Service Code of Standards and Behaviour.  This states that any civil servant intending to be engaged in or connected with (i) any outside business with which he or she had official dealings or (ii) any outside business that might gain an unfair advantage over its competitors by employing him or her must inform the appropriate authority of such an intention. Additionally, civil servants who hold positions which are “designated positions” for purposes of the Ethics Acts shall not, within twelve months of resigning or retiring from the service

- accept an offer of appointment from an employer outside the Civil Service or

- accept an engagement in a particular consultancy project, where the nature and terms of such appointment or engagement could lead to a conflict of interest.

Officers below the grade of Assistant Secretary who intend to be engaged or connected with any business as described above must seek approval from the Secretary General of their prior Department before accepting employment.  In the case of officers at or above the grade of Assistant Secretary, approval must be sought from the Outside Appointments Board.

All members of my Department’s Management Board are Designated Officers.  The following table details, additionally, the number of current Designated Officers in my Department across all grades from Principal who would be bound by the one year cooling-off period.

My Department has no record of former Designated Officers seeking approval from the Secretary General to take up new employment within a year of their retirement or resignation and records are not maintained of an officer's subsequent employment.