Departments let go 49 staff since 2004

FORTY NINE staff have been dismissed by Government departments in the past five years either for misconduct, poor performance or failing to fulfil the terms of their contract, it has emerged.

The largest number were in the Department of Justice, where 17 lost their jobs or contracts, five of them this year, according to figures released by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.

The Department of Social and Family Affairs dismissed 13 people between 2004 and 2008, according to Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin. Seven of those employees were on probationary contracts, she said.

Three civil servants lost their jobs this year in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The figures were released in written parliamentary replies across all 15 departments to Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar. He said the figure was low and “over the next couple of years, there will have to be a reduction in the number of people in the public service” and those who should be let go “are those who are underperforming”.

He pointed out that “every five years, 25 per cent of TDs get turned over”. Departments have annual assessments “but they are all tokenistic”, benchmarked for performance bonuses, “but not for change”.

People may not want to dismiss staff “but things are going to have to change. If everyone’s doing more for less to be more competitive, then it has to be those who are performing well who keep their jobs and those underperforming who are let go.”

No staff were dismissed in the Taoiseach’s department, in Finance or in Arts, Sport and Tourism. Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said no staff had been dismissed, but “the department initiated disciplinary proceedings in a very small number of cases where serious misconduct was alleged” – but the officers resigned.

One officer was let go this year in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and one in the Department of Communications, both during their probationary period. One was dismissed this year for misconduct in the Department of Health, while five were dismissed in Education, three in 2004 and 2007 for underperformance and two in 2006 for misconduct.

There were three dismissals in the Department of Agriculture, one in Environment in 2006 and one in Defence in 2004, while two civilian Defence Forces staff were dismissed.