asked the Minister for Finance the number of persons in the public service in the grades of Departmental Secretary, Assistant Secretary, or Deputy Secretary who have availed of or have been accepted for the public service early retirement scheme; and the Departments in which such retirements have occurred and will occur.

The answer is in the form of a tabular statement which I propose to circulate with the Official Report.

Note: Figures are for retirements which have actually taken place. Some other officers have indicated an interest but, due to the small numbers involved, to include them in a table of this kind would effectively identify them which would — in the interests of confidentiality — be inappropriate at this stage.