THE Minister of State for Finance, Ms Avril Doyle, introduced the Civil Service Amendment Bill. She said its purpose was to repeal the "reinstatement scheme" under which women civil servants were allowed to return to their positions after marriage without competing formally at civil service open competitions. The Labour Court had ruled that all recruitment to the service should be by open competition through the Civil Service Commission.
The Bill was welcomed by the Fianna Fail spokesman on finance, Mr Charlie McCreevy, who said it should close a chapter on the iniquitous "marriage bar".