The Department of Finance has published details of the recruitment and promotion moratorium in the public service on its website.
The Department said the moratorium will operate in respect of the civil service, local authorities, non-commercial state bodies, the Garda Siochána and the Permanent Defence Forces.
However, it will be modified in the health and education areas.
The moratorium will not apply to Hospital consultants and certain other health grades, such as Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists and Emergency Medical Technicians - posts in these grades which become vacant may be filled, and a limited number of new posts may be created within the overall numbers ceiling.
The number of teacher and special needs assistant posts will be capped at the level existing next September, but the Department of Education will be allowed to appoint teachers to fill any vacanices arising after that.
The Government also has placed an embargo on the appointment of teachers to certain promotional posts in second-level schools. .
The secondary teachers union the ASTI has said the move will be devastating for the administration of schools, especially large schools.
The following questions and answers appeared on the department's website:
Q: Does the Moratorium apply to all areas of the public service?
A: Yes. The recruitment and promotion moratorium will operate in respect of the civil service, local authorities, non-commercial state bodies, the Garda Síochána and the Permanent Defence Forces. The arrangements have been modulated in relation to the education and health sectors to reflect the particular service needs in those sectors.
Q: Why are these restrictions necessary?
A: The public service pay and pensions bill, at some €20 billion per annum, accounts for around 36% of total Government expenditure. Savings in the pay bill must contribute to the overall strategy for correcting the major imbalances in the Exchequer finances.
Q: Isn't this just an embargo - a blunt instrument to reduce numbers employed?
A: No. An embargo would imply that no filling of vacancies whatsoever could take place. The Minister for Finance will have the authority to allow for the filling of some vacancies in very exceptional circumstances. The Government decision also provides that vacancies may be filled by redeployment of staff from other Departments or public bodies with the sanction of the Minister for Finance. In addition, arrangements for the health and education sectors have been modulated to ensure that key services are maintained insofar as possible.
Q: What do you mean by "redeployment"?
A: In the context of the need to achieve significant savings in the cost of providing public services over the next several years, greater flexibility and efficiencies in the allocation of resources is a pressing need. It is intended that these staff will be available to be re-assigned to areas of greater priority, including where there are sudden surges of activity which cannot be adequately met by the existing staff of the Departments/bodies concerned.
Q: How does this moratorium fit into the Government's policy on Transforming Public Services?
A: Policy on numbers employed in the public service will be actively managed in conjunction with the programme of reform and renewal of the public service in line with the implementation of the recommendations of the OECD and the Task Force report. These recommendations envisage the redeployment of staff from activities which are no longer priority to areas of greater need. Programmes of public service reform and renewal will also address legal, technical and historical barriers to movement across the various parts of the public service.
Q: What about recruitment and appointment of temporary or seasonal staff?
A: The moratorium decision also applies to temporary appointments on a fixed-term basis and to the renewal of such contracts. Any exceptions to this principle, which will arise in very limited circumstances only, require the prior sanction of the Minister for Finance. This sanction will only be forthcoming when the Minister is satisfied that the post is essential to the delivery of a public service or performance of an essential function, that every effort has been made to fill the post by redeployment.
Q: What measures will be taken to monitor compliance?
A: The Department of Finance will be contacting Departments and Offices about more detailed arrangements for confirming compliance with the requirements of the Moratorium. If necessary, suitable measures can be incorporated in the Administrative Budget Agreements. As regards the wider public service, the onus is on each Department to monitor implementation in bodies under its aegis. As an initial step each Department is required to communicate the terms of the Moratorium immediately to all relevant bodies under its aegis and to send a copy to the Department of Finance.
Q: Will the moratorium not result in deterioration in public services?
A: The Government is conscious of the need to protect certain services and this is why it has provided for a degree of flexibility especially in the health and education sectors. The focus of the provision for redeployment is to allow resources to be moved from activities which are no longer priority to areas of greater need.
HEALTH SECTOR
Q: Will the Moratorium apply in the Health Sector?
A: The moratorium will apply in the health sector but there will be flexibility to allow for the continued development of integrated health care, particularly primary and community care, care of the elderly and people with disabilities.
Q: How will this work, what grades will be covered?
A: Based on the 2008 employment outturn and the provision for development posts (225 posts in cancer care and disability services) in the 2009 Budget, the opening 2009 employment control ceiling for the health sector is 111,800.
There will be a general moratorium on recruitment, promotion and acting appointments to all management and administrative grades and all other grades in the health sector, except for Hospital Consultants, certain other health professionals such as Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists etc and Emergency Medical Technicians. Posts in these key grades which become vacant may be filled and a limited number of new posts may be created within the overall numbers ceiling and moratorium policy. There will need to be a reduction in posts in non-priority areas to compensate for any new posts created, and redeployment between institutions and between the hospital and primary, community and continuing care sectors.
EDUCATION SECTOR
Q: How will the Moratorium work in practice in relation to teachers and Special Needs Assistants?
A: The number of teacher and SNA posts will be capped at the overall aggregate number of such posts actually in place in schools after the new school year has begun in September 2009, based on the agreed Staffing Schedule for 2009/10 and other existing policies for determining teacher/SNA numbers. (It is proposed that the actual number of posts in place on 30th September 2009 will be used for this purpose).
The Department of Education and Science will continue to have delegated sanction to appoint teachers to fill any vacancies arising thereafter, within the overall ceiling applying.
The Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Finance will examine the range of policy options available to the Government in Spring 2010 in relation to the application of the ceiling in 2010/11 and will bring forward appropriate proposals at that time, for consideration by the Government.
Q: Why are posts of responsibility allowances being included in the Moratorium?
A: Given that the moratorium applies to promotions across the public service generally, it is considered that this position should also apply in relation to the award of 'post of responsibility' allowances in schools - as these are equivalent to promotions in the case of teachers. However, where new schools are being established, the first allocation of such allowances for the new schools will be allowed as an exception to the general rule.
Also, Principal and Deputy Principle posts will continue to be filled under the delegated sanction arrangements for filling teaching posts.
Q: Will this mean that people currently doing teacher training courses can't be employed for the coming number of years?
A: No it does not mean this. The ceiling on Teacher/SNA numbers will be fixed at the overall aggregate number of such posts actually in place in schools after the new school year has begun, in September 2009. So there will be recruitment of teachers this September for any vacancies arising or new posts approved by the Minister for Education and Science for this September.
After September, the Department of Education and Science will continue to have delegated sanction to appoint new teachers to fill any vacancies arising thereafter, within the overall ceiling applying. So it would not be true to say that people currently doing teacher training courses will have no opportunity for employment in the years ahead.
Q: How will the moratorium apply in the higher education sector?
A: In the higher education sector, an employment control framework will be put in place to provide for the application of the moratorium to the third level institutions. The details of this will be agreed between the Department of Finance and the Department of Education and Science, subject to the legal provisions applying, and it will then be a matter for each individual institution to ensure that it is in compliance with the agreed framework.
Q: What interim arrangements will apply in the higher education sector pending the employment control framework?
A: Pending putting in place of the employment control framework, higher education institutions will be asked to fill only essential academic and support posts subject to their not exceeding their current overall number of authorised posts. Vacancies in administrative posts generally may not be filled.
