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THE AVERAGE AGE of Ireland’s civil servants is 45 years, according to Dave Thomas, the chief executive of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants.
Speaking to Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio One this morning, Thomas said that there are concerns that staffing levels within the civil service are approaching a critical level, with half of current workers due to retire in the next five to ten years.
The association is meeting today to discuss issues affecting the public service and falling staffing levels is top of the agenda.
Thomas said that the government have started to address the problem by recruiting administrative officers, but that more urgency is needed. He said that in some cases one civil servant could be doing the work of two or three people.
Meanwhile it’s been revealed that there’s a significant drop in the number of civil servant taking long-term sick leave when the rate of pay during that leave is cut.
The Irish Independent reports today that a switch to half pay after six months leave leads to a 68 per cent drop in the number of workers on leave.
It’s previously been reported that annual sick leave in the public sector costs the State over €551 million.
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Doing the work of 2 or 3? Be no harm if they started doing the work of 1 person first.
Six months full pay when supposedly sick!! It’s amazing how a tonic like losing half your wages cures all! And people wonder why the country’s banjaxed! I was on to the tax office this morning to find how a claim I made two months ago was progressing, only to be told that the person dealing with my claim has been out sick for the last three weeks! I’m thinking now that he or she will be back in work sometime in October! With a bit of luck my claim should be sorted before Christmas! Happy days!!
Doing the work of 2 or 3 other public servants…so that’s still only 50-75% the workload of a single private sector employee….get them doing the work of 4.
Yeah those pesky nurses doing the work of 2 or 3 nurses. Off with their heads!
So they are doing the job of two to three civil servants – who normally do about a third of the work of an average private sector worker – should be no problem! They’re actually doing enough for once.
So civil servants retire between the ages of 50 to 55? Whyvso young?
That shoud read “Why so young”
the average age is 45 which means there is a quite a number aged 50 to 60 (and an equivalent number aged 35 to 45) so if we don’t start planning recruitment now then in 10 years time all the experienced staff will be retired, leaving chaos behind as a large number of green recruits are suddenly hired.
Nope. Average age is 45. Also, half of the civil service are due to retire in 5 to 10 years.
No reason to suppose that half of the workers are also of average age.
ok so what is the retirement age? Lets just say it is 65, that would mean that half of the civil servants are between 55 to 60?
The article said average so of course that means ther are much older and also younger civil servants. Retirement age is still 65 except that the government encouraged people to leave earlier on a scheme designed to reduce numbers of staff this finished 28 feb. it is absolutely true that people are often carrying the work of three people. My boss retired and aa other person below me left and I have to cover their jobs as well as my own. I work most days until at least nine at night from nine in the morning and often at week ends to cover the work and then have to listen to people talking about the cushy public service. This cutting of frontline staff particularly in the health sector is dangerous
If times get too tough in the civil service there’s always the option tens of thousands of private sector workers have been forced to take and emigrate to more efficiently run nations.
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2011-11-14/europe/irish-emigration-levels-highest-since-nineteenth-century.htm
The minimum age of retirement is 60 and the max is 65, but 66 or higher for new recruits
“People retired/left and I have to do their work as well as my own”
Look, in the real world this is called productivity. Buy some computers/telephones and stuff.
Some people might say that they should increase the retirement age before starting to hire people. However there are a lot silver haired men and women (mostly men) occupying senior roles in the civil service who’ve only done their leaving cert, and there are a lot of unemployed graduates who’d love to work for half their pay. Hint, hint Howlin!
Funny how things change private sector a couple of years ago wouldn’t piss on the public sector wages, with the bonuses, company cars, company expense cards to name but a few an on the other hand crap wages, unsociable working hours etc just funny how things change, may only be a leaving cert but seems to have been a smart choice by them now?
A public service job is a crap job to have during good times, but a good job to have during bad times…so someone said
I think it’s probably a crap job at any time :D
Not only do you get to work with some pretty “entitled” and disgruntled people. You also have to work for the “government” – one of the worst employers in the country. From speaking with friends who work in the public sector, the conditions are pretty miserable, thanks in part to the unions. A bit of reform would do them a power of good.
Its not really that funny Aarum tbh, The Public sector jobs were always seen as modest pay jobs with a secure and pensionable income. Private sector employment was for people who wanted to go out an earn money and have the facility to progress through hard work. However the last decade has turned this on its head literally. During the good times the Public sector did nothing but push to match / increase and surpass the wages that were being made in other industries (totally unwarranted) might i add, as we received no increase in efficiencies or improvement in services during this major period of increasing salaries and increasing recruitment.
So where is the big hurrah then? There isnt one.. we are no left with an under performing, overly staffed (not all areas) highly paid and higly pensioned pretty secure and untouchable workforce putting a large drain on the countrys finances and the return on this is certainly not visible to the average man.
Daily we can only read articles about crime stats and health care issues. I dont understand how people can be so smug as to say i made the smart choice to be in a sector which so obviously needs major reform and certainly needs a back boned government to do so.
Another reason we have the recruitment freeze on getting younger more educated and dynamic people into the sector is because we cant afford it. The bulk of the money is being distributed to long timers, and tbh i believe ‘experience’ is being thrown out as an excuse to keep alot of these people. Dont get me wrong im sure there are certainly hard workers there but to be fair the lack of visibility in the sector is laughable.
Counties and Companies survive on being dynamic and forward thinking. We are being strangled to death….
Anyone know if the government takes on people in public service jobs under Jobbridge. Would kind of make sense that they would try to alleviate some of the pressure on the social services system by taking on people looking for the experience who they wouldn’t have to pay by the hour. Would be a good aul advertisement for their scheme.
Yeah that does kinda does kinda makes sense ….. NOT ! Jobsbridge Gardai, Fire brigade, Defence Forces, Nurses, Teachers, Prison Officers ….. Maybe some office work in the job bridge scheme may work ?
Censored that might work if I was a secretary or clerical but as a professional working in the frontline of the health service that will not improve productivity I can only see one client at a time and deal with one crisis at a time reduced staff means less service for the public and escalated risks for all you obviously know nothing about life and death issues and serving the public
Social services was what I was talking about. Clearly I’m not talking about Gardai etc. Although there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work with nurses. They would be fully qualified, yet unable to find work, why would they turn down the opportunity to get hospital work? I was mainly referring to welfare office, clerks, receptionists, and the like.
Val Kearney
You said Public Servants ….. You actually meant Civil Servants. Good as we are as public servants I have still to meet one blessed with the power of mind reading ….
Where there’s a will, there’s a way Orla.
Excellent news this, that so many of the old guard set to retire. Civil servants with the unions behind them have held this country to hostage for far too long. I would say 50% of them are underworked and over paid. Too many just stamping letters and making more paperwork than is necessary to hold on to their jobs. The civil service needs to be streamlined into a more proficient and cost effective system.
Would that 50% be a number you just completely made up?
gosh Robert are you suggesting people just make up numbers and post them on the journal next thing you’ll be suggesting that some people over react and post hysterical opinions
50% is obviously made up. The real number is more like 99.99999%
No one wanted my “permanent pensionable ” good aul public service job 10/15 years ago cause they were all living it up in the private sector!!! Now were slagged off and tried to make feel grateful for having a job! Well I stayed because I liked my job and im not going to feel “grateful” for it, I’ve worked bloody hard for the last 23 years, Im 41 now!! never claimed the sick or the dole…. This media crap of putting public v private makes me mad as hell — rant over :)
Missing the point.
Fall for it everytime! The govt love playing the public and private sector off of each other and the private sector fall for it everytime! I never hear the public sector giving out about all the people in the private sector who mortgaged themselves into oblivion and left the bill to the public servants….. No, pubic servants are not afforded that opportunity to have a rant because they are lucky to have a job, but not to worry the more their pay is cut, the more likely they are to have to give up their jobs as it will soon be costing them money to go to work, they’ll join the dole queues with everyone else! Look at the reality people, fat cats sold this country not the lowly public servant on the frontline! We laughed at their wages, in the good times, we are all jealous now eh!!!
Hear hear well said
The cheek of us having jobs and paying taxes!
The cheek of us going for permanent public sector jobs over highly paid private sector jobs!
The elephant in the room here Ciara is that the jobs are not underpaid or even low paid. The have been very well paid for the last decade for anyone that got before 2 years ago you were earning far more than the average factory worker, retail staff, call centre staff and admin staff in any other sector so the pay game is a blooper for you.
The pay is the main reason we cant recruit new young staff in as its all tied up at the higher grades.
Blah blah blah blah, blame the public servants blah blah blah blah blah blah blah . You people are brainwashed at this stage.
A report in a paper today’s says 5000 a day sick in HSE have I read this wrong if it’s true is a crazy number ?
Frontline emergency services are being particularly affected by the recruitment moratorium. An Garda Siochana for example has not had an intake for the last number of years and it is unlikely, based on current departmental figures and targets, that an intake will occur for a few years yet.
The lack of ‘new blood’ into An Garda Siochana will create numerous strategic issues within the organisation in the subsequent future. The embargo on promotions is also creating organisational management issues.
These issues need to be rectified to ensure that frontline emergency services can continue to offer an effective service into the future.
But sure what do we need frontline emergency staff for? Dont we just have admin workers to do our jobs for us seeing as the rest of the country feel we do nothing and are underworked anyway!
Gardaí are gonna be the most effected by the moratorium… Surely, more than any other frontline service, a mix of experienced & younger Gardaí is crucial to the job they do…
How many of these people took early retirement with big lump sums and huge pensions when the country is borrowing to pay them for the rest of their lives. The politicians want all hands to the pump to help out the country yet they promote the idea of stealing the taxpayers money when it comes early retirement to politicians and civil servants. The rest of the taxpayers must work longer to pay for these fat cats.
James, there are no factory ir call center workers in the public sector so start by comparing like with like.
i see you helpfully left out admin and clerical staff out there…. No come back to me with a comparison
You cannot compare a factory worker call centre worker etc with a professionally highly skilled graduate they are not the same job and average pay when calculated in the private sector excludes CEO etc but in public sector includes higher civil servants.
Im going to be brutal with you Orla, the only people i know that are highly skilled graduates working in that sector are Doctors and Nurses. There isnt anyone else i know that didnt either start after their inter cert or come in after leaving cert level. So please excuse me if i fail to believe that the positions im refering to are highly skilled or require advanced expertise.
We need less red tape departments are more front line services. Its a bloody mess. And anyone i know working in it would tell you the same thing.
What about psychologists social workers speech and language therapists OT etc all of whom have to have a degree and post graduate qualification master doctorate etc you obviously know nothing about the public sector
I have never known anyone in the public sector only have their junior cert even the lowest grade clerical officers have at least their leaving cert and have had to complete a competition exam with only the highest placed individuals getting the job. The clerical jobs and lower grades are so badly paid that many qualify for the family income supplement. Most professional grades like myself have completed At least five years third level which we paid for ourselves before free fees
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