Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service (GCHQ) is a British intelligence agency that provides signals intelligence to the British government and armed forces. Prior to 1983 its existence was not acknowledged, despite the fact that it openly recruited graduates. Following a spy scandal in 1983, the organisation became known to the public, and the government of Margaret Thatcher decided a year later that employees would not be allowed to join a trade union for national security reasons. The Minister for the Civil Service is a position held "ex officio" by the Prime Minister. This was done through an Order in Council, an exercise of the Royal
Public service of the Republic of Ireland to An Post and Telecom Éireann respectively. Today there are approximately 37,523 people employed in the national civil service. The defence sector refers to the total number of personnel of the Irish Defence Forces, which consists of the Irish Army, Naval Service and Air Corps. Personnel numbers for each of the three services is as follows: State spending on defence totalled €895 million for 2016. The education sector represents the second largest sector of the Irish public service, with 96,432 employees working in primary, post-primary and third level institutes. A break-down of numbers is as follows: Public spending in 2016