Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
This dataset, published by Ireland's Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, provides the Public Service Numbers DataBank, covering whole-time-equivalent staff numbers by sector from 1980 to 2015. Figures are annual (Q4) up to 2007 and quarterly from Q4 2008 onward. Sectors include the Civil Service, Education, Justice (mainly An Garda Síochána), Health (mainly HSE staff), Local Authorities, and Non-Commercial State Agencies, including staff not directly funded by the Exchequer. A revised monitoring system introduced in Q1 2009, based on quarterly reporting to the Department, may cause minor discontinuities in the series due to methodological changes.”The Public Service Numbers DataBank provides access to a comprehensive set of Public Service Numbers presented on a whole time equivalent basis and shows the numbers of staff employed in each sector for the period 1980 to 2015. From 1980 to 2007 the end quarter Q4 figures are available. From Q4 2008 onwards data is available on a quarterly basis. These staff numbers include public servants whose pay is not in all cases funded directly by the Exchequer. The largest category of these is Local Authority employees but there are also staff in some Non-Commercial State whose Agencies pay is funded from the own resources of these bodies. In functional terms, the public service is composed of the Civil Service, the Education Sector (principally teaching professionals at primary, post-primary and third level), the Justice sector (principally An Garda Síochána), the Health Sector (principally staff employed by the Health Service Executive), the local authorities and the non-commercial state agencies or NCSAs. A new system for monitoring public service numbers were introduced in the first quarter of 2009. This system uses the Q4 2008 figures as its base and the numbers are based on information reported to the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform on a quarterly basis. The system is a live system and is being continuously refined and enhanced and there may be minor discontinuities in the series reflecting methodological changes and updated information regarding numbers in particular sectors.
Trust score
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Data schema (14 fields)
Click a field to see example values.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Year | int | Calendar year of the staff number record.Calendar year of the staff number record. |
| Quarter | text | Quarter of the year to which the figures relate.Quarter of the year to which the figures relate. |
| Level_1_KeyLevel 1 key | int | Numeric code identifying the Level 1 group/category.Numeric code identifying the Level 1 group/category. |
| Level_1Level 1 | text | Top-level classification, typically the government sector group.Top-level classification, typically the government sector group. |
| Level_2_KeyLevel 2 key | int | Numeric code identifying the Level 2 category.Numeric code identifying the Level 2 category. |
| Level_2Level 2 | text | Second-level classification, typically the government department or area.Second-level classification, typically the government department or area. |
| Level_3Level 3 | text | Third-level classification, such as broad employment sector.Third-level classification, such as broad employment sector. |
| Level_4_KeyLevel 4 key | text | Code identifying the Level 4 category.Code identifying the Level 4 category. |
| Level_4Level 4 | text | Fourth-level classification, such as staff grade group.Fourth-level classification, such as staff grade group. |
| Level_5_KeyLevel 5 key | text | Code identifying the Level 5 category.Code identifying the Level 5 category. |
| Level_5Level 5 | text | Fifth-level classification, a more specific organisational subdivision.Fifth-level classification, a more specific organisational subdivision. |
| Level_6_KeyLevel 6 key | text | Code identifying the Level 6 category, if applicable.Code identifying the Level 6 category, if applicable. |
| Level_6Level 6 | text | Sixth-level classification, the most granular organisational subdivision.Sixth-level classification, the most granular organisational subdivision. |
| FTE | text | Number of staff employed, expressed as whole time equivalents.Number of staff employed, expressed as whole time equivalents. |
Schema inferred from the distribution file's first records 21 days ago. Column types are sampled estimates, not source-declared.
Query the data
Pick columns and a sort, then fetch a live preview straight from the source. Choose an API-filterable column (marked ▾) under “Where” to pick from its list of values.
Sample data (5 records)
Record 1FTE: 3,960.56 · Year: 2025
{
"FTE": "3,960.56",
"Year": "2025",
"Level_1": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine Group",
"Level_2": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine",
"Level_3": "Civil Service",
"Level_4": "Civil Service",
"Level_5": "Agriculture, Food & Marine",
"Level_6": "",
"Quarter": "Qtr 4",
"Level_1_Key": "85000119",
"Level_2_Key": "85000201",
"Level_4_Key": "85000202",
"Level_5_Key": "85000080",
"Level_6_Key": ""
}Record 2FTE: 70.60 · Year: 2025
{
"FTE": "70.60",
"Year": "2025",
"Level_1": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine Group",
"Level_2": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine",
"Level_3": "Civil Service",
"Level_4": "Industrials",
"Level_5": "Agri - Industrials",
"Level_6": "",
"Quarter": "Qtr 4",
"Level_1_Key": "85000119",
"Level_2_Key": "85000201",
"Level_4_Key": "85000204",
"Level_5_Key": "85009009",
"Level_6_Key": ""
}Record 3FTE: 17.00 · Year: 2025
{
"FTE": "17.00",
"Year": "2025",
"Level_1": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine Group",
"Level_2": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine",
"Level_3": "Ncsa",
"Level_4": "Non Commercial State Agencies",
"Level_5": "Ncsa - Active",
"Level_6": "An Rialálaí Agraibhia",
"Quarter": "Qtr 4",
"Level_1_Key": "85000119",
"Level_2_Key": "85000201",
"Level_4_Key": "85000203",
"Level_5_Key": "85000205",
"Level_6_Key": "688]"
}Record 4FTE: 172.60 · Year: 2025
{
"FTE": "172.60",
"Year": "2025",
"Level_1": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine Group",
"Level_2": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine",
"Level_3": "Ncsa",
"Level_4": "Non Commercial State Agencies",
"Level_5": "Ncsa - Active",
"Level_6": "Bord Bia",
"Quarter": "Qtr 4",
"Level_1_Key": "85000119",
"Level_2_Key": "85000201",
"Level_4_Key": "85000203",
"Level_5_Key": "85000205",
"Level_6_Key": "85008001"
}Record 5FTE: 116.00 · Year: 2025
{
"FTE": "116.00",
"Year": "2025",
"Level_1": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine Group",
"Level_2": "Agriculture, Food And The Marine",
"Level_3": "Ncsa",
"Level_4": "Non Commercial State Agencies",
"Level_5": "Ncsa - Active",
"Level_6": "Bord Iascaigh Mhara",
"Quarter": "Qtr 4",
"Level_1_Key": "85000119",
"Level_2_Key": "85000201",
"Level_4_Key": "85000203",
"Level_5_Key": "85000205",
"Level_6_Key": "85008002"
}Live sample captured at profiling time — values may have changed upstream.
Verification Status
Using the API
Query examples
curl -sL 'http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataKeysCSV' -o data.csvFull csv file download — the schema shown was inferred from the file's first records.
Dataset
Volume & freshness
Coverage
- First published
- 1980-01-01
License
No license declared upstream.
Themes
Distributions (8)
public-service-numbers-1980-2015-1-doc
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDatapublic-service-numbers-1980-2015-4-doc
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataKeyspublic-service-numbers-1980-2015-2-pdf
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDatapublic-service-numbers-1980-2015-0-xls
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataOpen Data Public Service Numbers Keys
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataKeysCSVOpen Data Public Service Numbers Source
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataSourceCSVpublic-service-numbers-1980-2015-3-xls
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataKeyspublic-service-numbers-1980-2015-5-pdf
http://databank.per.gov.ie/Public_Service_Numbers.aspx?rep=OpenDataKeys