Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has told the Dáil that the retirements of large numbers of civil servants this month has been a subject of continuous discussion for ministers within their departments.
Minister Burton - who was taking Leaders' Questions in place of Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore - was responding to Fianna Fáil's Michael McGrath, who accused the Government of having no plans to deal with the exodus.
He charged that, with just two weeks to go, the Government was putting in place transition teams to deal with the departures, a situation he described as shambolic.
The minister said the Government was not aware until last week of the final numbers and that it was now formally putting structures in place to deal with it.
She expressed surprise that the Fianna Fáil party would be ''befuddled'' by a situation that that party had left the current Government in when it left office last year.
The minister said it makes good management sense to have some flexibility in relation to the retiring public servants staying on beyond their retirements.
Ms Burton cited the example of the Director of the Office of Corporate Enforcement and some teachers who would remain with their exam classes until the end of the school year.
She was responding to Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, who said it was "Darby O'Gill economics" where people who were retiring early were being rehired by the State while "retaining their handsome pensions".
