Ireland’s Public Service is facing a considerable risk to the delivery of its services over the coming years due to the advancing age profile of its staff, a review published by the Department of Public Expenditure has found.
The review says the Public Service strives to be representative of the population yet the proportion of officers over the age of 54 is 28 per cent, compared with 17 per cent in the general workforce.
It says the proportion of under 35-year-olds is 16 per cent for the Public Service and 34 per cent for the Irish labour force in general.
“Having such a large proportion of the Civil Service workforce over the age of 55 presents a significant business risk in the medium term,” the review says.
“Most of the Civil Servants that are over the age of 55 are members of the pre-2004 pension schemes, under which they can retire at the age of 60,” it says.
That meant a growing number would be eligible to retire within the next five years, which presented a considerable business risk to the delivery of services and business strategies over the next five-to-10 years.
“However, retirement eligibility does not equate to expected retirements, and retirement eligibility alone should not form the basis of succession planning,” it said.
The review also said: “While it is generally agreed that skills are a critical aspect of workforce planning, there is currently no centralised skills data available on the workforce.”
Dublin, 9 October 2020
