Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 June 2023
126. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason his Department is now conducting an internal closed competition for the same rank, particularly when the current list has not been exhausted; the reason the new competition is an internal closed competition when a number of external candidates are ranked higher on the current list and are now unable to apply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27188/23]
View answer173. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason his Department is running an internal competition for first secretary posts when there is an external list in existence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28565/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 173 together.
My Department appoints First Secretaries from internal, interdepartmental, and open panels in an equal ratio.
In relation to the interdepartmental and open panels administered by the Public Appointments Service and due to expire in November 2023, my Department has requested the assignment of candidates from these panels to fill the First Secretary vacancies which have arisen since those panels were formed.
As the most recent First Secretary panels available to my Department have been open and interdepartmental panels, it is standard practice that the next panel formed would be an internal one. Therefore, my Department is currently conducting an internal competition to create a panel of officers suitable for promotion to the grade of First Secretary, from which a proportion of future vacancies arising at that grade over the next two years will be filled. The panel is expected to be formed in August 2023.
As is standard practice across the civil service, only serving officers with not less than two years’ aggregate service in the civil service are eligible to compete in internal competitions in their current Department.
