A new ratio of promotions to open recruitment, means an additional 10% of civil service executive officer (EO) posts will be filled by promotion in future. The arrangement, which was agreed in the discussions that led to the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA), sees the introduction of a new 60:40 ratio in favour of internal promotion over open recruitment.

However, DPER also tabled 300 potential liabilities to the open EO panel as part of this discussion. Fórsa is disputing this on the grounds that many of the liabilities relate to the period when the recruitment moratorium, which ruled out open recruitment, was in place.

The union says members should not be further disadvantaged as a result of the moratorium. It has told the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that EO open liabilities should not accrue for periods when no EO recruitment was taking place.