asked the Minister for Finance the net increase in the numbers in the public service projected for 1978 on the basis of moneys authorised to be spent in the budget on 1 February 1978.

The public service, as defined for budgetary purposes, embraces the civil service, Army, Garda, teachers and health board staffs but excludes other branches of the public sector such as State-sponsored bodies.

I announced in my financial statement last month that the Government had, under their job-creation programme, made financial provision for the creation of a net additional 6,561 new posts in the public sector during 1978. Four thousand, four hundred and seventy-one of these posts will arise in the public service categories referred to above. Arrangements are being made to have these posts filled as speedily as possible during the year.

Actual numbers employed in the public service in any one year are also influenced by factors such as the pattern of vacancies in existing authorised staff complements and the rate at which they are filled. It is not possible, however, to predict the net effect of these factors on the pattern of public service employment during 1978.