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REPUBLIC OF IRELAND DEPARTMENT
DATE: 1 MAY 1992
W Baker
CIVIL SERVICE NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS
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The attached draft EOM paper and Mr Austin's minute of 29 April comment on a recent meeting at which your Department and Legal Advisers were represented. He tells me that he understands OMCS have been in touch individually with a number of FCO Departments, including PPD and HKD. Important issues are involved, but we do not seem to have tried to reach a concerted FCO view.
2. I have not participated in previous discussions on this subject myself, but am concerned after reading Mr Austin's minute that the OCSC may not be impressing on Home Departments the need for broadly uniform and liberal arrangements. In my view these will be necessary if we are to avoid considerable problems in presenting the changes to EC partners, including the Irish, and to any concerned Commonwealth countries. This view is shared by the NIO and NICS who already face problems of challenge because of discrepancies between their restrictive policies and those in the rest of the UK.
3. There is a persuasive reason for change, for uniformity between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and for retaining sensitive posts within the Civil Service for UK nationals. But our present policies present us with problems both presentational and legal in moving to new arrangements. is not clear what basis we would have for insisting that posts that have previously been open to Commonwealth and Irish citizens should now be reserved for UK nationals.
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4. The Civil Service Department appear to be working towards a policy which would enable Departments to apply their own definition of "public service". If, as reported, the Inland Revenue and Home Office (and possibly other Departments) are going to interpret "public service" very broadly, there are likely to be challenges. Our policy will be restrictive enough to make it likely that the change will attract considerable attention. This is in any case unavoidable as legislation appears to be needed to remove the bar to the recruitment of "aliens".
ID3174
CONFIDENTIAL