Mr. Martin Fraser:

There are rules and circulars around what severance and redundancy is payable. In the event that there is a change of administration those rules are applied to the individuals. The amounts can vary depending on service, salary and all sorts of things. We apply the rules. In 2016, as the Deputy can see, almost nothing was paid - €47,000. That looks to me as though one person got severance. To look at 2017, as the Deputy will know there is quite a lot of turnover when the Taoiseach changes, even if the party stays the same. Staff lose their jobs because the jobs go with the officeholder. They get paid in accordance with finance circulars.