5. Civil Servants and Politics
5.1 Restrictions have traditionally been imposed on civil servants engaging in political activity to ensure public confidence in the political impartiality of the Civil Service. This section restates the existing restrictions.
5.2 (a) Civil servants are not permitted to seek a nomination or to stand for election to either House of the Oireachtas or to the European Parliament. This restriction applies to all categories of staff. Civil servants above clerical level cannot stand for local election.
(b) Civil servants in the craft and state industrial related grades are free to engage in politicsPreviously, Department of Finance circulars on politics have used terms such as "political matters", "matters of current political interest", "political action or position", "political issues" and "political activity". For the purposes of this document, the term "politics" is used to cover all of these terms. and may stand for local election. The general restriction in relation to election to either House of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament applies.
(c) Members of the clerical grades in the Civil Service and non-industrial civil servants in grades with salary maxima equal to or below the Clerical Officer maximum may apply to their Department/Office for permission to engage in politics on the same basis as the staff referred to at (b). Officers employed on particular types of work may, at the discretion of departmental management, have their applications refused. In cases where permission would otherwise be refused, Departments/Offices should examine the possibility of moving an officer to a less sensitive area.
(d) All civil servants above clerical level are totally debarred from engaging in any form of political activity.
5.3 Civil servants in category (d) may not engage in public debate (e.g. letter writing to newspapers, contributions to television or radio programmes etc.) on politics, except if required to do so as part of their official duties. This is not intended to change existing practice. Civil servants in category (c) may engage in public debate on politics only with the prior permission of their department/office. These provisions do not preclude publication by civil servants of material on public affairs in accordance with statute or where such publication was authorised by the department/office.
5.4 The provisions of Paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2 do not apply to the posts of Government Press Secretary, Deputy Government Press Secretary, Assistant Government Press Secretary, and all Ministerial and Attorney General Private Office staff holding temporary unestablished positions and whose tenure is coterminous with that of the relevant Minister/Attorney General (e.g. personal assistants, special advisors, personal secretaries in offices of Ministers and civilian drivers of Ministers of State).
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