RETIREMENTS FROM THE civil service have left most departments and offices seeking new staff to fill critical gaps, according to documents released by Minister Brendan Howlin.
Of the 24 divisions covered in a newly published plan for the civil service, 14 say they are likely to need to break the recruitment moratorium to fill posts, or have already done so.
Those seeking to hire new employees include the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Education and Skills, the Office of Public Works and the Central Statistics Office.
The plan was published yesterday as the civil service gears up to cope with large numbers of retirements. A ‘grace period’ during which staff can retire with a pension based on their salary before pay cuts expires tomorrow.
Some 1,236 civil service employees had stated their plans to retire between January 1 and last week – almost twice the number the civil service expects in the whole of 2013.
More than half of these retirements are from the Department of Agriculture (180), the Department of Social Protection (246) and the Revenue Commissioners (226).
The plan states that “no major difficulties have been signalled” by civil service divisions in coping with the changes. Departments are being encouraged to move staff internally and ‘streamline’ processes to help deal with retirements.
However, “critical posts” may be filled if offices make a “business case” to Brendan Howlin’s Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
Fourteen departments and offices have stated their likely intention to do so, or say they have already received clearance. Of these, nine are Government departments and five are other divisions including the Property Registration Authority and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
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