Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The committee's mandate is to make an independent determination of awards in accordance with the scheme formulated by the Department with the approval of the Department of Finance and which is consistent with principles recommended by report No. 38 of the review body. Under the scheme, participants prepare a statement of objectives at the beginning of the year and a self-assessment of performance at the end of the year. These objectives and assessments are subject to approval by the committee for performance awards which also makes the final determination of the amounts of awards.

The committee's reports for 2003 and 2004 are available in the Oireachtas Library. The reports contain details of the background of the scheme, including the setting of objectives, assessment of performance and the approved range of awards available under the scheme. The reports also include details of the distribution of awards as a percentage of pay, the range of monetary value of awards and the number of recipients. The report for 2005 will not be available until the second quarter of the year and I understand that the committee is considering including in that report details of total awards by local authorities.

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