330 civil servants out on career breaks

Almost 330 staff in government departments are on career breaks — a third of them for more than three years — according to figures released in response to parliamentary questions.

The figures show that more than 20 civil servants have been on breaks for over five years, even though the Department of Finance states that a career break is special leave without pay, which should be not less than six months and not more than five years.

In two departments alone, Justice and Social Protection, there are more than 65 civil servants on unpaid long-term leave each.

The figures, released to Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen by 15 government departments, show that 108 of the 326 people were on career breaks of more than three years.

There were 27 people on breaks for more than five years.

The Department of Justice had 77 people — the largest number — on extended leave.

Of those, 35 had been on career breaks for more than three years, with 25 of them expected to be unavailable for between four and five years.

In the Department of Social Protection, 16 of the 68 staff currently on long-term leave are to be absent for three years or more, three of them for at least five years.

The Department of Agriculture has the highest number of people who are on long-term leave for more than five years.

Those people constitute 13 of the 50 in the department who are on a career break.

According to Finance Minister Michael Noonan, the career break scheme is promoted as “one of a number of facilities that help staff to combine work and family responsibilities”.

“A career break consists of special leave without pay for a period of not less than six months and not more than five years,” he said.

“A career break may be extended in six monthly periods or in periods in excess of six months provided the total period of special leave without pay does not exceed five years in all.

“Subject to certain conditions, eligible staff may, in general, avail of three career breaks during their career provided the total period does not exceed 12 years.”

In relation to the number of its staff on career breaks, the Department of Justice said, in employment terms, it was one of the larger departments with a total complement of 2,000 staff.

“Many career breaks are for shorter periods of six months to three years, as set out in the [parliamentary answer].

“Indeed many staff do not avail of the maximum period of five years,” it said.

“Staff on career break are drawn from across the grades; locations; and areas of work, and, therefore, the impact of career breaks across the department is negligible.

“The figure of 77 staff represents less that 4% of the department’s total serving staff.”

The Department of Social Protection said that, with a staff in excess of 7,000, the 68 workers currently on career breaks represented less than 1% of staff numbers, which, it said, was not considered to be an excessive number.

“All career break applications are subject to approval by local management,” it said.

“The 68 cases were approved over a period of years across the department and the staff involved are not paid while on career break.

“The filling of all vacancies including those resulting from career breaks are considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the department’s overall priority business requirements.”