PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE:THE PROPERTY Registration Authority (PRA), which manages the registrations of titles and lands around the country, is "top of the league" for sick leave across Civil Service bodies, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has been told.

Speaking at a hearing yesterday, Fianna Fáil TD Ned O’Keeffe said that a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General found that staff in the authority had taken an average of 15.9 days sick leave in 2007.

The report said that the average number of sick days per employee across the Civil Service was 11 days.

The chief executive of the authority, Catherine Treacy, said that the sick leave levels recorded at the agency were a matter of serious concern for her.

However, she said that measures were being put in place to deal with the issue.

She told the committee that 90 per cent of sick leaves recorded in the authority in 2007 had been certified by a doctor.

Ms Treacy also said that 44 per cent of staff had taken three sick days or fewer, with nearly one-quarter not taking any sick days at all.

Ms Treacy said that 20 members of staff accounted for 30 per cent of the sick days that were taken.

Ms Treacy said that her agency had included in its returns for sick days data on disability leave. She said that the comptroller in his report had noted that not all bodies across the Civil Service had done this.

She said that the authority was also finalising a new human resources and absence management strategy.

Mr O’Keeffe said that there was a need for “corrective action” at the agency in relation to sick days which, he maintained, “looked quite bad when compared with other organisations”.

He said that the sick day levels were also resulting in substantial costs for the agency.

“You are top of the league”, he told the authority’s officials at the hearing.

The authority’s main functions are to manage and control the Land Registry and the Registry of Deeds.

Department of Finance official Mary McKeown said that it took the issue of sick leave “very seriously”.

She said that the department had prepared a new, updated policy on sick leave which was being discussed with public service trade unions.

Ms McKeown said that sick leave levels could have implications for the career of an officer in the Civil Service and that abuse of this arrangement could lead to disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the Office of Public Works (OPW) Clare McGrath told the committee that to date, €337 million had been spent on property aspects of the Government’s decentralisation programme.

She said that this comprised of the cost of site/property acquisitions, fit-out works and rental payments.

“[A total of] €331 million has been spent by the OPW, together with some €6 million incurred directly in respect of property costs by other organisations.”

“In the same period the State has disposed of surplus State assets in Dublin which has realised over €356 million to date”, she said.