Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In respect of my own Department, there are currently 42 contract staff employed. Each business case is carefully examined and the Department complies with the guidance on starting pay in all matters to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum. There are no agency staff directly employed in my Department.

The information with regard to the Office of Public Works is as follows:

Excluded from the above figures are the seasonal guides and drainage maintenance workers who are employed on a seasonal basis.

With regard to the Armagh-based special EU programmes body, SEUPB, which co-ordinates the peace programme and the North-South INTERREG programme, the following is the position:

The table shows the number of agency staff currently employed in the SEUPB. The approximate cost to the Irish Exchequer is €5,000, representing 25% of the above total. The cost is paid equally by this State and the UK, with the balance paid by the European Union.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The majority of costs relating to agency staff used by the SEUPB are funded through the technical assistance programme. The remainder of these costs are jointly funded via the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in Ireland.

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