Dáil debates
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed)
Public Sector Allowances
4:10 pm
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 and 2 together.
I am arranging for details of the allowances paid to staff in my Department to be circulated with the Official Report. Details of the business cases made by my Department to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are available on that Department's website, www.per.gov.ie.
Following publication of the central review of allowances by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on 18 September last, the delegates' allowance was abolished with immediate effect. My Department has also abolished, with effect from 31 October 2012, the clothing allowance that was payable to a small number of staff who attend official functions. A number of allowances are being abolished for new beneficiaries, including the retention element of private secretary allowances, which will not be paid to new beneficiaries, and allowances payable to a personal assistant and diary secretary in my office.
Most of the remaining allowances paid to staff in my Department are in recognition of the additional duties and longer hours inherent in the performance of these roles - for example, allowances for private secretaries and those in the press office. It is also worth noting that many of the allowances are paid to relatively junior grades in the Department, are payable across the Civil Service and are dealt with centrally for the Civil Service as a whole. In accordance with the directions provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, my Department continues to seek further efficiencies and savings under the Croke Park agreement, including in this area.
The following table provides details of the allowances payable in the Department of the Taoiseach.
Name or description of allowance | Amount of allowance |
|---|---|
| Press officer on-call allowance | Five hours' overtime at double time every week |
| Private secretary to the Taoiseach | €24,427 per annum |
| Private secretary to Minister of State (including private secretary to Leader of the Seanad) | €19,653 per annum |
| Assistant private secretary to the Taoiseach | €19,653 per annum |
| Shift allowance in Government Communications Unit | 1/6th gross salary |
| Minister of State meeting allowance | €17,205 per annum |
| Private secretary to Secretary General | €10,370 per annum |
| Personal assistant in Taoiseach's private office | €7,125 per annum |
| Taoiseach's diary secretary | €7,125 per annum |
| Machine allowance | €848 per annum |
| Paper keeper allowance | €3,176 per annum |
| Franking allowance | €1,783 per annum |
| Child allowance (payable to certain staff recruited before 1979 only) | €113 per child, per annum |
| Footwear allowance (payable to service officers for outdoor duties only) | €65 per annum (paid every second year and vouched) |
| Tea/meal allowance (payable to service officers who work late on Dáil sitting days only) | €4.10 on Dáil sitting days |
Notes:
- Former private secretaries retain a portion of the private secretary allowance when they vacate their positions. The four former private secretaries in my Department receive €12,214, €9,287 (two recipients) and €5,185 per annum, respectively.
- The review of public service allowances published in September 2012 included the retention element of the private secretary allowances, the diary secretary to the Taoiseach allowance and the personal assistant to the Taoiseach's private office allowance in the classes of allowance to be abolished for new beneficiaries.
- My Department also pays a higher duties allowance to one member of staff and a deputy head of division allowance to a member of staff on secondment from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the instruction of that Department.
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