Civil servants will be subject to more flexible hiring and firing arrangements as a result of new legislation published yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
The Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2004 also clarifies the process under which a public servant may be sacked - historically a decision that had to be referred to Cabinet.
Under the Bill, staff below the level of principal officer (PO) may be dismissed by the department secretary or office head, while those at or above PO rank must be sacked by the relevant minister at the Department head's recommendation.
The proposals would also allow managers to impose salary-cuts, demotion, and suspension without pay for staff who continue to under-perform after attempts to address the problem through training or coaching.
"Hardship payments" made to suspended civil servants may also be varied or stopped under the legislation.
On the other hand, the new law would also allow people over 65 to be hired as permanent civil servants without a mandatory retirement age, and would provide for those employed on temporary contracts to enjoy full civil-servant status.
Staff sacked under the new legislation will have access to the Unfair Dismissals Acts.
The bill also provides for the transfer of responsibility for local state solicitors from the Attorney General to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the delegation of functions from the Director of Public Prosecutions to the local state solicitors.
The new measure, which amends the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956, gives effect to measures originally introduced in 1997, but not implemented because of legal constraints.
Describing it as a "further significant step in the reform and modernisation of the civil service," Mr McCreevy said it was the third in a series of recent initiatives to modernise the civil service, following reform of public service pensions and the introduction of a code of standards for staff.
A commitment to introduce the legislation was contained in the social partnership agreement Sustaining Progress. Civil service unions will be consulted about its implementation.
