Civil Servant vs Public Servant - What's the difference?

Hi Rainy,

This topic comes up regularily in the Pensions Forum.

See here for a few definitions.

Public Service The public service comprises the civil service, the local authorities, the health services, the Defence Forces, the Garda Sı ´ocha´na, the education sector and non-commercial state sponsored bodies.

Public Sector The public service plus the commercial state companies.
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Briefly the Civil Service is a sub set of the Public Service and the Public Service a sub set of the of the Public Sector.

Civil Servants work in government departments. Public Servants include Civil Servants but also Guards, Nurses, Local Authority Employees and Employees of Non Commercial Semi State organisations. Public Sector Employees include Public Servants and also employees of commercial semistate organisations such as An Post, the ESB,the VHI etc.
I hope this is clear!

ajapale
 
Thanks Ajapale - So would employees of non-commercial statuatory bodies be civil or public?
 
I find employees of non-commercial statuatory bodies are rarely civil.

sorry, that just my experience of them.
 
"So would employees of non-commercial statuatory bodies be civil or public?"

It depends on the agency. Some bodies such as the ODCA, LRC, Labour Court are staffed almost entirely by civil servants despite being autonomous bodies.

Others such as FAS, the Competition Authority, etc have made a complete split from their parent departments and ther staff, therfore, are NOT civil servants. However, as their pay is drawn from the exchequer, they would be regarded as public servants.
 
Well I am a civil servant and I would have to agree with you. Just remember that civil servants have to deal with each other and they get cheesed off when they get bad service as well. However things have got a lot better than they were years ago, not perfect but better.
 
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