THE SECRETARY GENERAL of the Department of Finance will be barred from taking a job in finance for a year, unless Merrion Street officials sign off on it.

Moran, who announced that he will leave his post in the coming months last week, must get permission from the Department to take a position with “an employer outside the civil service”, or work on projects that “could lead to a conflict of interest.”

Such clauses are designed to ensure that senior officials cannot use the information and knowledge they acquired while working in the Department for the gain of a private company.

Arrangements similar to these are common in the corporate world, where they are referred to as ‘gardening leave’, although there is no payment due to Moran while he waits out the period, as is often the case in the private sector.

If he does want to take a job that falls into one of these categories, he has to get the approval of the outside appointments board.

The board considers whether a conflict of interest exists, and can decide to impose conditions on any appointment.

So it might be back to the South of France for Moran, where he famously ran a juice bar prior to taking up the reins at the Department of Finance.

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