Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has asked what steps I have "taken to deal with the issue of allowances paid to staff" in my Department. Details of the changes made to a number of the allowances paid to staff in the Department of the Taoiseach are being circulated in the Official Report. Deputy Gerry Adams is right to suggest some of these allowances have been paid in addition to basic pay to personnel on the lower scales of public service salaries. They are set out in the details to be circulated. The details do not include information on the salary of each individual. The information can be seen by category, depending on whether the individual is a clerical assistant or a clerical officer, for example. The details can be amended to include the number of public servants in each of these categories in the Department. If such details are required, they can be circulated.

In a wider sense, it should be noted that €1.4 billion was spent on allowances and premium payments in 2011. Following the review, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has brought proposals to the Government whereby allowances worth €720 million would be abolished, not paid to new beneficiaries or would be subject by review by sectoral management to secure additional savings. The annual cost of paying to current incumbents the allowances that will not now be paid to new beneficiaries is approximately €475 million. A further range of allowances with an annual value of €245 million will be subject to modification of their payment terms. The allowance paid to officials who travel outside Ireland and the United Kingdom to represent Ireland at meetings of EU or other international organisations, or who act as chairpersons of EU committees, has been abolished for new beneficiaries and existing staff. This allowance is known as the chairpersons and delegates allowance. The immediate value of these decisions is estimated to be €3.5 million in 2012, increasing to over €16 million by 2015. All of these matters have been referred to in some detail by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the information is available on the official departmental website.

All of this is part of the process of major reform of the way we view the public service and the public sector. As I said, details relating to the Department of the Taoiseach will be circulated in the Official Report. These details can be amended to include the number in each sector who are receiving individual payments. A number of staff on the lowest salary scales have traditionally received some of these allowances. That is the case not just in this Department but across the Civil Service. These payments will be subject to central review as part of the package of allowances and reform being considered.

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