Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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76. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his attention has been drawn to instances in which Departments failed to notify staff coming to the end of a career break of appropriate vacancies, extending their career breaks unnecessarily beyond five years and six years; and if he will clarify whether Departments can extend career breaks of staff beyond six years without offering supernumerary positions (details supplied). [43326/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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While my Department has responsibility for setting the terms and conditions of various leave types for civil servants, it is a matter for individual employers to implement the provisions of the relevant circulars/policies accordingly.

As outlined in , Civil Servants who avail of a Career break are required to comply with sections 31-34 when returning from a Career Break.

In particular section 31 states that ‘in order to secure an offer of work, the civil servant must indicate at least two months before the end of his/her career break that s/he wishes to return to work. However, it may not be possible to facilitate the return to work of a civil servant on career break in a relevant grade for up to 12 months after the end date of the career break’.

Once this notification is received, the employer is obliged to inform the officer of vacancies which may arise after the officers scheduled resumption date, on the basis that the officer is eligible for the position and that the filling of the role does not disadvantage another officer.

Should it be the case that an organisation does not have a suitable position for a career break returnee at the scheduled end of the career break, one must be sourced within the following 12 month period as otherwise the organisation may be required to take the officer back in a supernumerary capacity at the end of the 12 months.

Employers are required to make every effort to identify a suitable position for the returnee. As part of these efforts, the officer may be placed on the redeployment resource panel which is managed by Public Jobs (the Public Appointments Service). There is no guarantee that the officer will be placed from the redeployment resource panel within this 12 month period, therefore, it is important that ongoing efforts are made by the organisation in addition to this to help identify a position for the officer during that period, primarily within their own organisation but potentially in another organisation within the geographical location.

During this wait period the officer may wish to make an application for a move to a new organisation/location through the Civil Service Mobility scheme. This would be subject to the usual qualifying conditions of the scheme. Further information in relation to the Mobility scheme can be found on the following website: www.nsso.gov.ie/en/services/civil-service-mobility/