Mr. Robert Watt:

These are premium payments. The Deputy will note from the table that 853 people received payment in 2011 in respect of availability for work on a Saturday. The amount in respect of Sunday is lower. Also included are on-call payments. For example, part of the job of a small number of staff in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is management of the server for the public system. They are on-call at various times to deal with issues such as cyber attacks and so on. This is a feature within the system. Various shift allowances are also paid. We have asked Departments to examine whether we are getting value for money in respect of on-call allowances, whether we need a particular number of people on-call and if this is appropriate given how people are now paid and our current fiscal situation. These types of allowances are referred to as premium payments.

While in the Civil Service the amount paid out by way of premium payments is quite modest, in the health system they amount to €400 million to €500 million. Premium payments are a significant part of the pay bill in resect of front-line services, such as gardaí and so on.