Hi °C | Lo °C RETIRED public servants shared a pay-pot of almost €400,000 last year for sitting on interview boards and assessing applicants seeking jobs in the public service.
In a written Dail response, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin confirmed that at any given time, there are 60 retired public officials helping with recruitment competitions conducted by the Public Appointments Service (PAS).
Mr Howlin said for these recruitment competitions, the PAS availed of trained and experienced retired public servants as interviewers, assessors and as decision arbitrators.
He confirmed that the cost of these services in 2012 totalled €385,856 and the positions were not advertised.
He said: "Any trained professionals can apply to PAS to be placed on the database for our selection boards."
Mr Howlin added: "At any given time, PAS would have approximately 60 active on their database.
Fee-per-day
"For this work, retired members are paid on a fee-per-day basis and are subject to tax and other deductions. The fees are linked to pre-retirement grades and take account of the principle of pension abatement."
Mr Howlin disclosed the information in a Dail response to Fine Gael TD Eoghan Murphy, who was seeking information on retired public servants who have been rehired in departments across Government.
In his response to Mr Murphy, Minister for Health James Reilly confirmed that four senior retired officials at the Department of Health had been rehired to help with Ireland's EU Presidency at an aggregate cost of €145,367.
In the response, Mr Reilly said: "These officers have experience and expertise that is essential to a successful presidency for Ireland in the important area of health policy."
Irish Independent
