Civil service of the Republic of Ireland

The Civil Service () of Ireland is the collective term for the permanent staff of the Departments of State and certain State Agencies who advise and work for the Government of Ireland. It consists of two broad components, the Civil Service of the Government and the Civil Service of the State. Whilst these two components are largely theoretical they do have some fundamental operational differences.

Background

The civil service of the Irish Free State, as the predecessor of Ireland, was not formally established by law. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 did however provide that the Government of the Irish Free State became responsible for those who where discharged or retired from the civil or public services in the new state, except a few exempted personnel recruited in response of the Anglo-Irish War. The exact status and compensation of such people was further codified in law by the . This had the effect that the state became responsible for essentially all former British civil servants based in the new state.

The first attempt at formally regulating the civil service was the which was essentially a transitional arrangement and in 1924 was replaced by the .

The result of these acts was the Civil Service Commissioners (later the Office of the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commissioners), a commission of three persons charged with determining the standards for entry to the Civil Service of the Government of Saorstát Éireann. Entry to the civil service was generally by...
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