Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 8, inclusive, together.

The Government decided the increases for political officeholders will be implemented on an extended basis, with 4% in September 2008 and half the balance in both September 2009 and September 2010. The officeholders concerned are myself, the Government Chief Whip, Deputy Tom Kitt, the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Deputy Roche, and the Attorney General. The incremental costs arising are nil in 2007, €10,410 in 2008, €42,545 in 2009 and €76,493 in 2010.

The posts within my Department which have qualified for the increases recommended by the review body are those of the Secretary General, five assistant secretaries, my programme manager, two special advisers and the Government press secretary.

The posts within the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which qualify for the increases are the Director of Public Prosecutions, the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, the chief prosecution solicitor and the professional officer grade II.

The posts within the Office of the Attorney General which qualify for the increases, excluding the Attorney General, are those of the Director General, the chief Parliamentary Counsel, the first Parliamentary Counsel, the deputy director general, five advisory counsels, grade I, and four Parliamentary Counsels.

In the Central Statistics Office, the Director General and two assistant director generals will qualify for the increase.

The pay increases will be implemented on a phased basis, over 18 months, as follows, 5% from 14 September 2007, the date of the report, or where the total increase is less than 5%, the full increase from that date, half the balance from 1 September 2008 and the remaining balance from 1 March 2009.

The estimated costs of implementation of the increases for the personnel concerned are set out in a table which I will circulate with the Official Report.

Approximately 1,600 public service posts are covered by the report. The level of increase varies from group to group and in several cases, no increase has been recommended.

The review body's recommendations are based on salary levels in comparable posts in the private sector. The salaries recommended are based on the lower quartile of private sector salaries and have been discounted by 15% to allow for the value of public service pensions relative to the private sector.

Neither I nor any of my Ministers has any involvement or in any way influences the workings of the review body. It has been the policy of successive Governments to accept the recommendations of this independent agency since its establishment in 1969.

Estimated costs of the implementation of the review body on higher remuneration excluding any general round increases awarded to staff during the period.

Name	2007 costs	2008 costs	2009 costs
	€	€	€
Departmental staff	33,477	114,895	130,096
Office of the DPP	10,147	42,763	81,796
Attorney General's Office	33,598	125,259	170,553
Central Statistics Office	7,363	26,961	36,874

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