Fórsa has reached agreement on a shared register for local authorities in the South-East, to ensure the correct implementation of confined recruitment ratios set out in a national deal.

The national agreement was reached in the Workplace Relations Commission, where the union secured the creation of a new system of confined competitions for promotion to local authority grades IV to VII. The agreement provides that:

• 20% of promotion posts are confined to eligible candidates in their own local authority
• 50% of promotion posts are confined to eligible candidates in the local authority sector nationwide, and
• 30% of promotion posts are open to public competition.

Now Carlow and Wexford county councils have agreed to establish a shared register to ensure that the ratios are maintained. And Kilkenny County Council has agreed in principle that it will support this common approach across the South-East.

Previous agreements have generally led to disputes about when the agreed types of competitions were due.

Fórsa official Lisa Connell said the union had moved to ensure the fullest application of the new arrangements in the region.

“Coupled with the national agreement, the shared register approach greatly increases the number of opportunities open and available to our members in each local authority. It will underpin promotion prospects envisaged in the national deal,” she said.

The national agreement, which increased the percentage of grade IV posts to be filled by confined competition from 50% to 70%, was accepted in a nationwide ballot of relevant members.

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