Retirement teams ‘working on plans since last autumn’

Transition teams to oversee the exodus of public servants at the end of this month had been working on plans since last autumn, finance minister of state Brian Hayes has said.

His comments come in the wake of comments by Taoiseach Enda Kenny who said a cabinet sub-committee first discussed the idea of transition teams last week, and they will be formally put in place next Tuesday.

Confusion surrounded the status of the transition teams after Mr Kenny told RTÉ last Sunday they were “in place” before telling the Dáil on Tuesday they were in the process of being established.