Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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This is an organisation that is in existence for ten years. We got shocked at that and we asked for a breakdown. This is what I am shocked at.

On page 20 of this letter, it states the current employee headcount is 118, which costs €8.7 million. That is an average of €73,728 per employee. That includes PRSI, superannuation and everything that might go with that. The outsourced placements, that is, the 148 persons sitting beside the direct employees doing the same day-to-day work, cost €20.6 million. That is an average €139,189 per employee which is 90% greater than the cost of a direct employee. This is a gross mismanagement of the budget. It is spending 90% more per person than it needs to.

It further states that there was sanction to increase some additional staff. That has been done. At the end of the schedule, it states the board agreed to put plans in place for additional staff to be recruited. It does not give us the numbers of the staff to be so recruited, however. It states its long-term objective is to ensure it has the proper staffing requirements.

Ten years after the organisation has been established, this is totally unacceptable. There is bad expenditure on behalf of the taxpayer of €10 million. There is €20 million on outsourced staff. If these were the authority’s own staff, that figure would halve. Up to €10 million is being spent on outsourced staff to do day-to-day work in that organisation ten years after it was established. It gave all the details about recruitment embargoes over the decade. These figures are such a stand-out. It is a matter on which we will report. We have mentioned that at the meeting. Those of us here were shocked to hear this. That is why I want to put those figures out there now.