The number of civil servants employed in the State will fall by only 3,000 this year compared to 5,000 last year and 10,000 in 2009, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin has said. The latest figures were disclosed at a meeting of the Oireachtas Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform, which Mr Howlin attended yesterday.
He said there would be a slight increase in his department’s expenditure on consultancy in order to recruit outside specialists to drive public service reform.
Under questioning from Mr Fianna Fáil’s Seán Fleming, Independent Stephen Donnelly and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, he said there were 11 qualified economists, three to PhD level, and nine fully-qualified accountants.