The number of people employed by the Central Bank of Ireland is comparatively huge. It has 1,200 staff, according to a heavily censored document briefing the new finance minister released this month, with over half working in a regulatory role.

While Ireland’s banks continue to pare back headcount, the enthusiasm for recruiting financial policemen for the newly bolstered Central Bank continues. Last year, it set a target to increase headcount by 150, and by a further 150-200 over 2011 and 2012.

While this may not seem like a huge hiring spree, total headcount at the Central Bank will eventually be more than double a regulator with a comparable sized financial sector – Bank of Finland employs just 650, for instance. The UK’s FSA employs 4,000 people and has frozen hiring for 2011.

The Central Bank also pointed to a need to recruit “contract staff, secondees from professional firms and staff exchange with other international regulatory authorities” to ensure it is adequately resourced.

Perhaps one of the more surprisingly elements is how successful it’s been in attracting people from the private sector, particularly as – according to recruitment sources – it many have taken a pay cut to work for the regulator.

Fair enough, you might think, in this era of shaky job prospects, swapping pay for security seems like sensible option. But, according to sources close to the Central Bank, most new recruits were gainfully employed previously and switched because they are genuinely excited to be part of the transforming regulatory landscape in Ireland.

It also helps that the benefits are generous: “They’re offering 30 days holiday, a great pension plan, flexitime, time off in lieu if you work over your contracted hours and a lot of training and upskilling opportunities. It sounds like a cliché, but the work-life balance is a selling point,” says one Irish financial services recruiter.

All in all there’s a “great buzz” coming out of the Central Bank, suggests Ken Harbourne, managing director of recruiters Wallace Myers International.

“The Central Bank was notorious for having a grossly antiquated working environment,” he says. “There’s a new, dynamic attitude at the place now.”