asked the Minister for the Public Service if, as indicated in a recent ministerial statement, there are difficulties in filling vacancies in the Civil Service for qualified accountants; if so, why; and if similar difficulties are being experienced with regard to other professional grades.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Civil Service Vacancies.
3.
When addressing a professional body recently I referred to difficulties of recruiting accountants in sufficient numbers for the Civil Service. These difficulties are also being experienced in filling some other professional grades and arise mainly because expansion in both public and private sectors has caused demand for suitably qualified people to exceed the supply.
Is the Minister satisfied that the levels of pay at entry and at the top of the scale are adequate to attract professional people into the public service?
All sectors of our economy both public and private are having difficulties in recruiting professional people having regard to the increased demands which exist for their services and, no doubt, the points mentioned by the Deputy, and others, are relevant to this.
Is it a fact that people recruited by the State services who prove to be very good are bought away by private enterprise offering them a bigger salary scale?
That is one of the matters about which I am very concerned as Minister for the Public Service. I am anxious to see mobility generated not merely from the public to the private sector but from the private to the public. I hope it will be possible to generate this move.