Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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405. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the Public Appointments Service can adequately evaluate non-nationals applying for jobs in the public service who may have higher level qualifications such as level 9 and but not have an Irish Leaving Certificate; if any weight or account is presently taking by the PAS when looking at such applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1256/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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PAS utilises recognised standard education comparability frameworks to convert qualifications from non-Irish education institutions into their Irish equivalent, for example, NARIC   By doing this we are able to understand if the qualification matches or exceeds the eligibility criteria as set out as part of a PAS competition.  Only qualifications that are stated as requirements, or as desirable criteria, are taken into account for our General Grade and Professional and Technical roles; this is to ensure fairness for all candidates.  If the Executive Officer grade is taken as an example, the only educational required per DPER guidelines is that candidates must: (i) have obtained a minimum Level 7 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications; or have obtained in the Established Leaving Certificate Examination a minimum of Grade D (or post 2017 Leaving Certificate O6 grade) at Ordinary level in Mathematics and Irish or English, having obtained a minimum of Grade C (or post 2017 Leaving Certificate H4 grade) in at least five subjects at Higher level; or hold a qualification, that in the opinion of the Public Appointments Service, is of a standard in terms of both level and volume of learning that is of at least an equivalent or higher standard; i.e. a qualification that is equal to a full Level 5 Major award or above on the Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) National Framework of Qualifications.

Candidates must in addition to meeting all stated requirements also obtain qualifying scores in the competition assessments.  Orders of merits for candidates are based on their performance in the assessment stages e.g. interviews. 

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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406. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the PAS compiles any statistics on the recruitment levels of non-Irish nationals in the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1257/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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PAS do not currently compile statistics on recruitment levels of non-Irish nationals in the public service. While PAS undertake a significant amount of civil service recruitment and, less so, public sector, they do not do all the recruitment for this sector.

Candidates do set up a profile on Publicjobs.ie when searching or applying for any number of roles advertised. At this point they can opt to fill in various equality monitoring questions; one of which is to identify their nationality. This information is voluntary, and one profile/candidate can apply for many roles. It is not tracked, monitored or reported on as part of the recruitment process. Where it is a requirement to be provided as an eligibility criterion, it is collected and confirmed independent to the account registration process. PAS are currently assessing the best way to gather, analyse and use the equality monitoring data they hold do, in line with emerging best practice and government action to ensure a diverse and inclusive public service.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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407. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if current employment practices of the PAS may be discriminating against highly educated non-Irish nationals in attaining employment opportunities in the public service, specifically in relation to the treatment of graduates from abroad without an Irish education background; if these practices are compatible with EU equality principles; if his Department has any plans to amend current employment practices in the PAS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1258/23]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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PAS utilises recognised standard education comparability frameworks to convert qualifications from non-Irish education institutions into their Irish equivalent, for example NARIC.  By doing this PAS is able to understand if the qualification matches the eligibility criteria as set out as part of a PAS competition.  PAS is satisfied that it has processes in place to assess whether qualifications obtained in other jurisdictions meet the entry requirements for all PAS-run competitions across the public service. 

PAS has developed an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in order to attract a diversity of applicants for public service roles, which focused on increasing knowledge and understanding of the Irish public sector workforce and recruitment pipelines; ensuring recruitment and selection processes encourage and enable access to candidates from diverse backgrounds; modelling best practice in ED&I at PAS, and support clients in building public sector workplaces that embrace inclusion and reflect society.